Remembering What?
by Laceburner
Summary: The one thing I wanted - more than anything in my life - was to remember everything. Such a simple request, at no cost to anybody's well being. All I want is to be able to answer questions. The only thing is, what exactly is it that I so desperately want to remember? I guess sometimes the thing you should fear most is the one thing you want so badly.
1. Chapter 1

_**Eek! Here it is! The new story! Thanks to everyone who enjoyed, reviewed and supported the previous story, SJAL! This one is called Remembering What? (RW?)**_

 _ **You guys, well the majority of you, voted for this one, and I had quite a few voting for the other one as well. I own any and all names that are not used or referenced in the movies and cartoons; that being said you may not use any of them without my written permission via PMing. I thought up all of those names by myself. While on that note, you can't use this story, plot, ideas, or OCs without my permission either. I've put a lot of effort and still am into this story. So, because this is a new story, that also means... NEW POLL! Go vote on that too, so I can start working on the next story too, and don't forget to review, because I need to know; IS THIS ANY GOOD? Thank you in advance everybody!**_

 _ **As well, thank you to everybody who read, favorited and followed my previous story, SJAL. You all could not know how much that meant to me.**_

 _ **Also, this is the only time I'll post this, I do not own anything from the movies or cartoons. I just don't want to have to disclaim it every single time.**_

 _ **As well, PLEASE REVIEW! I NEED THE FEEDBACK!******************_

 _ **This happens after TF 1, and will not include TF2,3, or 4.**_

 _ **So, without further ado, I present you with**_ _ **Remembering What?**_

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

 _The one thing I wanted - more than anything in my life - was to remember everything. Such a simple request, at no cost to anybody's well being. All I want is to be able to answer questions. The only thing is, what exactly is it that I so desperately want to remember? I guess sometimes the thing you should fear most is the one thing you want so badly. SS/OC/SS_

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

 **Cybertronian Time Units:**

 **Nano-klik = 1 second**

 **Klik = 1 minute**

 **Breem = 8 minutes**

 **Cycle = 1 hour**

 **Orn = 1 day**

 **Quartex = 1 week**

 **Joor = 1 month**

 **Stellar cycle = 1 year**

 **Vorn = 83 years**

 **Ano-Cycle = 1 Cybertronian year (1.000.000 years)**

 **I do not own the time units, they were gathered from various internet sources.**

 **Speech and Dialouge:**

 _{:: Words ::} - Private Commlink_

 **.: Words :. -** Sparkmate Bond speech

"Words." - English speech.

 **"Words."** \- Cybertronian speech.

 _ ***(* Words *)***_ \- Public Commlink

 _ **::Words::**_ \- Message (The equivalent of a text message or email).

 _(~ Words~)_ \- Sibling Bond speech

 **I do not own the length units, they were gathered from various internet sources.**

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

 **Initiate Onlining?**

 _Uh... sure, I guess._

 **Welcome :)**

 _Ok..._

 _ **Initiate Olfactory Sensors?**_

 _Um... Olfactory sensors?_

 _ **Initiate Olfactory Sensors?**_

 _Ok, yeah, sure._

 _ **Olfactory Sensors initiated.**_

She could smell where she was. In the forest somewhere - if the scent of Pine trees is anything to go off of.

 _ **Initiate Audio Reception Sensors?**_

 _Audio? You mean noise?_

 _ **Initiate Audio Reception Sensors?**_

 _Ye...s._

 _ **Audio Reception Sensors initiated.**_

Where ever she was was quiet, the only sounds being the sound of wind flying around.

 _ **Initiate Vocal Processors?**_

 _Um..Vocal.. Pro..cessors?_

 _ **Initiate Vocal Processors?**_

 _Um, yeah, I guess so._

 _ **Vocal Processors initiated.**_

 _Alright..._

 _ **Initiate Optical Visionary Sensors?**_

 _Visionary? That's seeing? Yes please!_

 _ **Warning! Optical Visionary Sensors un-responsive.**_

 _Alright, nevermind, forget it._

 _ **Initiate Data Banks?**_

 _How many things need to be initiated?_

 _ **Initiate Data Banks?**_

 _What are Data Banks?_

 _ **Initiate-**_

 _Yes! Initiate!_

 _ **Data Banks empty.**_

 _Whatever._

 _ **Initiate Nerve-ending Sensors?**_

 _Nerve endings? Like feeling stuff?_

 _ **Initiate Nerve-ending Sensors?**_

 _Ya, I got it! Initiate_

 _ **Nerve-ending Sensors Initiat- WARNING! WARNING! System malfunction! Repairative Shutdown Sequence beginning!**_

 _No, wait!_

 **Repairative Shutdown Sequence Initiated**

 **Goodbye :)**

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

N.E.S.T - Non-Biological Extraterrestrial Species Treaty. A special covenant between the humans of Earth and the Autobots of a now destroyed Cybertron. For years now Autobots and humans worked together to protect them from another faction of Cybertronians called Decepticons, and any other threats that may be imposed on the blue and green planet.

Originally, when the group of Autobots began to form, they were funded by the government and watched over by Theodore Galloway, the National Security Advisor to the President, and Charlotte Mearing, the Director of National Intelligence. Those two kept everything in line, or so they were told. However, when the seventh Autobot landed on this planet - Moonracer, Ratchet's _'Sparkmate'_ \- they were dismissed; the government stated that they were no longer useful to the cause and Captain William Lennox was put in charge of reporting to them. Then, Ratchet and Moonracer fixed Jazz. It took two to three months, but he was finally built back up, then reactivated. He stated the last thing he remembered was being held by Megatron upside down, then darkness, so they filled him in on everything.

From there, more and more bots showed up - Hot Rod, Cliffjumper, Arcee, Elita-One, Chromia, Bluestreak, Jolt, First Aid, Red Alert, Wheeljack, Mirage, Prowl, Blurr, Flare Up, Smokescreen, the wreckers Leadfoot, Roadbuster and Topspin, Hound, Springer, Skydive, Crosshairs, Drift, Tracks, Skids, Mudflap and, much to Sideswipe's joy, Sunstreaker - and on top of them, Dinobots showed up; Grimlock, Swoop, Sludge, Snarl, Slug, Strafe, Scorn and Slash. Once they came, the Government decided that enough was enough; the bots were relocated to a large island with multiple new bases built on it so the bots could do what they need, go for a long drive, and still be around. For safety reasons, the Dinobots were given a different base from the main one to reside in.

With the help of Wheeljack, Ratchet managed to create a ground bridge, which enabled them access to anywhere on the planet and complete missions. Everything was perfect the way it was, but of course it had to go wrong. Because we all know when everything is the way you want it to be, somebody's gotta come ruin it.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Whoever came up with the magical idea that the Chevy twins should be allowed to take on the task of patrol should be kicked in the processor. Seriously, who came up with that idea? Oh that's right, Sunstreaker had just repainted himself and didn't want to get dirty today. Oops, oh well. He was busy getting his aft handed to him by Ironhide in training anyway.

Jazz even bet on it. He said they'd come back with multiple scratches, fighting with each other and a ligament or two torn off. Boy, was he about to find out how wrong he was.

Mudflap had just drove through a mud puddle, splashing Skids, causing the fight to start, when a cry stopped them.

"D'ya hear dat?" the orange/red mech asked

"O' course I heard dat, ya glitch." Skids said

"Shh." Mudflap added, then pointed to a collection of pine trees - technically a forest, but he didn't know that - and walked towards it

"S'comin from in dere." he said, then walked over

"Why 'r we in here, again?" Skids asked

"Because, idiot, ya didn't hear dah-"

He was cut off by another scream.

"-Dat." he said, then looked around.

"W'o is it?" Skids asked

"Le''s go fin' out." Mudflap said, running towards the sound.

What they found was beyond belief. A cyan blue painted femme laid on the forest floor, convulsing in pain, and gritting her dentas as her left leg leaked Energon at the knee, seeing as the bottom part of her leg was torn off and settled beside her. She had a visor, which covered her optics, and dents all over her frame. How she got there without Prowl or Red Alert picking up her signal was a miracle. Both mechs gasped, and Mudflap crouched next to her.

"S'cuse meh, ma'am?" he asked, but the femme just convulsed and screamed again

"C'mon, Mudflap, le's get 'er back tah base." Skids said, kneeling on one side of her, and slipped one arm beneath her and helped her stand. Her visor brightened, hinting that her optics finally clicked on, but she leaned down and breathed heavily for a second, her vents making an odd sound every time she tried to breath in, like they were blocked.

"Come on, 'Flap, le's go. Grab 'er leg." Skids said, helping her. She couldn't stand up completely, and her head hung like she couldn't carry herself correctly from large amounts of weakness or pain, but they finally managed to help her get back to base

"Ratchet!" Mudflap yelled out "Bots! Hurry up!" he yelled out.

As all the bots walked out from a meeting or something, Ratchet growled and readied his wrench, and Jazz smiled giddily, ready to win his bet.

"I swear to Primus, I'm going to murde-" Ratchet's sentence cut short when he saw the femme in between them.

"Who is she?" Ratchet immediately asked "What'd you do?"

"We didn't do nothin'. We found 'er like dis in the collection of trees back dere." Skids said.

"Ironhide, grab her and follow me." Ratchet ordered as he grabbed the bottom half of her leg from Mudflap.

By now, all the mechs were gathered around and looking at the femme of their kind with extreme concern.

The black weapon's specialist practically sprinted forward and picked the femme up, only to have her convulse and scream again.

The scream was loud, and audio receptor piercing, but Ironhide followed Ratchet none the less, along with Jolt, First Aid and Moonracer. Ironhide gently placed her on the berth just as she convulsed again and another scream tore through her vocal processors.

"Moonracer, get me that I.V." Ratchet ordered.

Moonracer came out of the back room as the door slid shut behind Ironhide's retreating form, and handed the I.V and pain relievers to her Sparkmate. The large light green mech moved to pull her wrist armor off, but the clasps tightened and pulled the armor closer to her protoform

"Slag it, femme. I don't have time for this, **you** don't have time for this!" he growled, reaching behind her helm and yanking a couple of wires out. The clasps released for just a nanosecond, but it was enough for Ratchet to pull the desired armor off.

He slipped the I.V into her Energon lines and fed the line with the pain relievers Moonracer provided when First Aid's wrist stopped him. He looked up into the blue optics

"She's panicking. You scared her when you pulled those wires out." he said

It was true; the femme's optics were hidden by her fragging visor, but the visor was changing colors rapidly - from it's original dark black and blue tint to bright blue, to red, then the cycle started over again.

"Easy, femme. Nobody here will hurt." Ratchet said.

He must've made it worse, because her visor started flashing green too.

"Never let a mech do a femme's job." Moonracer muttered, walking up to the femme's head and crouching to be optic level

"Hi. I'm Moonracer." she whispered "I'm one of the medic's that's helping fix you." she mumbled.

The speed of which the colors in her visor changed slowed down, and Moonracer nodded to her Sparkmate as a silent go ahead.

Ratchet leaned over and started working right away. Her visor sped up a little at his touch, but Moonracer kept talking

"I'm not sure what you're name is, or how old you are, but maybe you can help me." the Medic-femme said, then slipped her hand into the young femme's on the berth "Squeeze once for yes, twice for no. Can you hear me?" Moonracer asked

One squeeze. A yes.

Perfect.

"Alright. You are a femme, right?"

One squeeze. Yes. Her visor stopped glitching.

"Do you know what happened to you? Why you're this injured?"

Two squeezes filled with hesitation. A no.

Frag.

Ratchet touched her injured leg and her visor started glitching again.

"Hey, easy. It's alright, Ratchet's just going to fix your leg. Can you feel any pain?"

Two squeezes. No; her visor stopped again.

"Alright, good. We gave you a tad of pain relievers." Moonracer said "Do you trust me?"

Tonnes of hesitation. Two squeezes.

No.

Slag.

"Well, maybe I can be the first one you trust here. How's that sound?" she asked

Nothing.

One very, very, extremely hesitant squeeze.

Good.

Progress.

"Alright. I promise to be somebot you can run to when you need me." she swore.

The little femme on the berth didn't move

One squeeze

"Alright. I'm going to help Ratchet and First Aid. If you need me, I want you to flash your visor blue. Can you do that?"

A squeeze and a blue flash over her visor.

Perfect.

"Alright. I'm still in the room, I promise." Moonracer said. The femme didn't panic, her visor stayed dark black, and Moonracer moved to help Ratchet.

The femme stayed quiet for most of the time and they managed to patch her up, re-attach her leg, and stabilize her Energon levels, but suddenly she tensed, and they noticed it.

"Femme...?" Ratchet asked, before she suddenly convulsed and screamed.

"Whoa, hey, I'm right here!" Moonracer said, but all she did was scream again. She convulsed again, and her visor flashed red.

"Femme!" Ratchet yelled out, but it did nothing to stop her screaming.

Finally, she screamed one last time, sucking a vent of air in through her lip components afterwards. She relaxed into the berth, frame shaking, vents trembling through something that was probably pain - or at least akin to it - but her visor flickered from black to red quickly.

"Femme?" Moonracer asked.

She had found herself crouching, back at face level with the femme on the berth, and First Aid and Ratchet had backed away form the berth, waiting for Moonracer to give them the go-ahead.

Moonracer moved her servo up to slip it into the femme's. She squeezed her servo, "You there?"

Nothing.

Moonracer looked back at the monitor - her Spark beat was stable, but she wasn't responding.

"Hello? You in there?" Moonracer asked playfully. The femme in front of her couldn't be older than sixteen millenia, maybe seventeen if she was lucky, but she looked so... stressed, like she'd seen to much for her age. Maybe she had.

Finally, the tinniest of squeezes graced Moonracer's servo, and she was cut out of her musing

"Are you ok?" Moonracer asked.

Nothing - two miniscule squeezes.

"Scared?"

One squeeze.

Moonracer felt bad for her - they didn't want her to be scared, but what could they do? She needed their help.

"Hey, we finished everything we needed to do, alright? We won't do anything else unless you permit it, alright?" Moonracer asked

One slight squeeze, and her visor flickered a little bit.

"Okay." Moonracer said "You'll be fine, I promise. Why don't you try to get some recharge, I'll wake you up later, alright?"

One squeeze - the femme must've gone into recharge because her visor went completely black, and her frame relaxed into the medical berth. Moonracer got up and looked at her Sparkmate, who was going over the results of the scan he got.

"What's her name?" Moonracer asked

"Scans show her designation is Laceburner, she's seventeen aon cycles."

"Laceburner? I've never heard of her." First Aid commented

"Is she ok?" Moonracer asked

Ratchet stayed quiet, not responding to his Sparkmate's question.

"Ratchet?" First Aid asked.

The green painted mech stared at the results with a blank expression until Moonracer walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Huh?" he asked

"What does it say?" the light green femme asked, unwrapping her arms from her Sparkmare's waist.

"Uh, nothing it's just... her data banks are empty." he said

"Empty?" First Aid asked "As in she's got no memory of anything from before?"

"Well, she has memory now, but all she has up there is what just happened - the twins finding her, the base, us. She's got the basics, the English Earth language, Cybertronian, and stuff. But nothing before that." Ratchet explained

"That's..." First Aid trailed off, not really having that much to say

"Well, tomorrow if she's good enough to get up and walk I'll introduce her to some bots." Moonracer said

Ratchet shrugged "I don't see why not."

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

She didn't like this - where was she? What was going to happen? Where was... Moonracer, right? Then again, all she knew about herself was her name was Laceburner, and she knew this because that voice she heard before told her so. Stupid voice, _**initiate**_ _?_ Part of her wanted to punch the voice in the face once she found out who it was, but she couldn't do that; it wasn't in her nature.

 _ **Go ahead. Try to punch me. I dare you.**_

And the voice hadn't shut up since. And with every passing second it just seemed to get meaner and meaner. And she couldn't get it to stop either.

She had quote on quote recharged for a little while, but when she woke up and couldn't fall back asleep questions wormed themselves into her thoughts. Everything around her was dark, but at some point everything around her was highlighted, the edges of some things green.

That same day, a little while later, the lights were turned on and everything went white. It almost blinded her, before everything went back to looking normal.

 _ **Idiot, it's called**_ _ **nightvision**_ _ **for a reason.**_

"Are you ok?" it was Moonracer, looking at her.

She nodded and sat up a little more. Moonracer crouched next to the little femme's berth and looked at her.

 _ **No, she's not ok. She's an idiot.**_

"There's a bunch of bots who want to meet you."

Just as Moonracer said that, her visor brightened and she scooted backwards. It was kind of obvious that she was scared about the idea.

"I promise to be right next to you, you can hide behind me for most of the time, but you should meet them." Moonracer said.

The small femme paused for a second, then nodded and scooted closer to Moonracer. The light green femme offered the blue femme a servo to grab onto as she stood up. Her first few seconds of standing up her legs were a little shaky, and her first steps were a little wobbly, but then she figured out how to walk and followed Moonracer out of the room, and down the hall.

They made it to the main hangar where a bunch of other robots were, and some humans too. But Laceburner didn't know what a human was, so she just passed them off. She stood behind Moonracer as they all looked over at them, suddenly not as comfortable with the idea of meeting _'everybody'_.

So many optics, their attention focused on her, she was was the center of attention, and if she messed up they'd laugh, and she'd be in-no, she couldn't do this. She stood behind Moonracer, hiding as much of herself as she could.

"It's alright, they won't hurt you." Moonracer said quietly to her.

 _ **But what if they do? What if she's lying? You don't know her, for all you know this is a trap.**_

Arcee walked up to Moonracer and looked at the femme hiding behind her.

"Hi! I'm Arcee." she smiled. The little femme moved further behind Moonracer, looking in the other direction of Arcee.

The smile danced off of Arcee's face and she looked up at her fellow femme friend with a questioning glance. Moonracer gave her a face that read _'I'll tell you later'_ , and Arcee nodded, walking off.

The poor femme looked scared and young. Too young to be in a war like this.

"Laceburner," Moonracer said softly "this is Optimus Prime."

Said red and blue mech kneeled down in front of Moonracer and _'Laceburner'_ so he wouldn't seem so intimidating to her. She seemed so young, and intimidated, like if she showed herself they'd beat her to a pulp.

"Greetings." he rumbled, and her optics widened, even though he didn't see it, and took a shuffled step back; Optimus saw the action "I promise none of us here will harm you."

She turned her head just a tad to peek at him, and he smiled when a very miniscule nod was his reward.

"Laceburner, correct?" he asked. Again, the tinniest of nods was what he recieved back, "Like Moonracer has stated, I am Optimus Prime, and these are my Autobots. I'd assume you want the rest of those introductions later."

She nodded a tiny bit again, even though it wasn't a question, and a confused expression crossed his face. She furrowed her brow - what she didn't seem to notice was her visor flashed red for a split second.

Moonracer looked down at the femme "Did you recharge last night?"

Technically, yes. She nodded.

"A lot of recharge?" Moonracer asked.

She shook her head - she didn't mean to not recharge, but once she woke up, she couldn't go back to sleep.

 _ **No, because she's an idiot.**_

Optimus looked at Moonracer when her visor flashed red agin, and the medic-femme nodded to him

"Come on, why don't you get some more recharge." she suggested. She wrapped an arm around the small femme and directed her away, back towards the room she had been in before, as her visor flashed red again, and she felt a wave of tiredness washed over her.

They made it to the room she was in before, and Laceburner propped herself up on the berth. Moonracer shut the lights off, and smiled.

"Get some recharge." she said, then shut the door as Laceburner's visor went completely black again. She sat up, walking over to the door that had just been there, making sure it was locked.

But she didn't recharge. The voice kept her awake.

 _ **What's wrong, Laceburner? Scared? You should be. You don't know anybot here. You're helpless, with nowhere to go. What good is it to be alive if you can't remember anything? Besides, what if this is a trap? Part of their plan? What if they were just**_ **supposed** _ **to stumble onto you by "accident" because oh look, you don't remember anything.**_

What if the voice was right? Like, she **did** happen to wake up with no memory.

Little did she know the voice would not only keep her awake for longer than she expected, but it wouldn't leave her helm by morning.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

"Wait, she's from where?"

"Vos. According to this, she's a native from Vos. Born there to Blackbyte and Imperial. From this profile, it says they died when she was five by members of the Gladitorial Pits of Kaon due to a hefty debt. However, the thing is it says that she went missing after that. There's no records of her in the Gladitorial Pits, nor was she for... sale in the Bot Auctions. It says there was an official investigation for her by the Elite Security Force of Cybertron, but they never found anything. There were some reports of seeing her on certain occasions in Kaon or Vos, but those reports were often knocked out of the way due to lack of evidence, or due to the fact that the cameras weren't good enough quality to confirm that it was her." Ratchet explained.

"And she's how old?" Ironhide asked.

"Seventeen aon cycles old." he said.

"Wait, you say she's missing?" Optimus asked.

"Yes. She went missing at five aon cycles, and was never officially seen again."

He furrowed his brows. "Then how is she on Earth?"

Nobody responded to him.

"So, her data banks are empty?" First Aid asked.

"Yes. She's got almost all of the languages originating on Earth, but almost no Cybertronian. That's all that I can find in her data banks. If there's anything else in there, it's guarded so tightly that even she can't remember." he said as Moonracer moved in her seat.

"Where do ya think she came from Optimus?" Jazz asked.

"What if she's a 'Con?" Ironhide asked.

"Highly doubtful. Even so, if she was, I highly doubt she'd go back. Did you see the condition she was in when the idiots brought her here?" Moonracer shook her head.

Arcee giggled. "Did you even see her? There's no way she's a Decepticon."

"Maybe the 'Cons were torturing 'er? She may have 'ad information they needed, and when she gave it to 'em, they wiped her memory and ditched her." Jazz theorized.

"That still doesn't explain how she got past Prowl's, even Red Alert's security system without setting it off. That thing is designed to pick up an Earth insect if it's too large, not to mention anything remotely related to Energon." Elita-One piped in.

"Yeah, but none of this makes sense, so why would that?" Chromia asked rhetorically.

"Either way, she's one of us now. We've got to figure out what she excels in and use that to our advantage. She's an Autobot now." Elita-One said.

"Have you looked at her? I highly doubt she can do anything physical, like fighting. And her medical skills don't seem to be to amazing. Right now she's up in the air." Arcee said.

Optimus sighed, rubbing his nose.

"Well, she's got to be good at **something**. We'll just have to figure out what that is." Ratchet said.

Nobody around the table really knew how to respond, much less respond, so they settled for nodding.

"I guess I can try and evaluate her in training one day." Ironhide said lowly.

"Not until she's physically cleared. But yes, that would be a good idea." Optimus nodded, leaning forward.

Finally, he sighed. "On the bright side, we have another Autobot, and the ladies have another femme on their journey to over power us mechs."

Chromia and Flare-Up laughed, high fiving each other from where they sat beside each other.

 **Boom! How's that for a first chapter! I sincerely hope you guys enjoyed this, as it took me quite a while to do it, and I really, really want you guys to like it! PLEASE DONT FORGET TO REVIEW EITHER! IT HELPS ME A LOT!**

 **As well, please tell me if you'd like me to continue the Baby Updates. They aren't really babies anymore, I guess, but they are MY babies.**

 **Anyways, AGAIN I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOYED AND DON'T FORGET TO GO VOTE ON THE NEW POLL, AS WELL AS REVIEW! LOVE YOU GUYS**


	2. Chapter 2

**I will admit, the response was a little overwhelming and made me very confident! I'm so glad you all liked it, and I'm doing my best to respond to the reviews this time around! As well, I'm posting this now because I've got a lot of stuff to do tomorrow, so I wanted to get this out of the way first. I hope everybody likes this one too, and I love how some of you love the voice in her head. The question is, who - or what - is it? Ooh!**

 **Eek, I love this story! I'm so excited! Or maybe I'm just in a really good mood because I had the absolute BEST ride of my LIFE with my new show gelding, plus I got to work with our little Sunstreaker foal and I decided to breed my mare again seeing as the babies turned out so well, but earlier today the vet confirmed that she's pregnant again and AH! I'm in such a good mood! AH! Okay, back to topic, here's Chapter 2, I hope you enjoy! AH! Baby Sunstreaker horsie boy is so friggin' adorable!**

 **Completely off topic, have you ever tried ROLO Hot Chocolate? It's friggin' delicious! Also, as I wrote earlier, I have a new gelding (neutered male horse)! But he doesn't have a name yet! Does anybody wanna help? Perferably something TF related, but it doesn't have to be. Not a fancy "registered" name, just a normal one! He has a registered name. AH!**

 **Enjoy guys and don't forget to review! ;)**

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Laceburner woke up some time later - a long while later - and tried as best she could to sit still. She played with her servos, looked around the room, tried going back to recharge, but nothing worked. Eventually, she just got up because she had to. Her joints cracked and popped, and she rolled her helm in a circle, then started walking towards the door.

It was closed, but apparently not locked, which helped her peace of mind a little bit.

It slid open and she walked out, and down the hallway that Moonracer had showed her from before. When she got to the massive room Moonracer classified as the _'main hangar'_ nobody was there. The entire room was empty. There were tables around the ground, stairs, and different stations for stuff.

There was a loud roaring sound, and Laceburner was tempted to turn around and run back to the room, but that sound was familiar - she'd heard it before. She knew she had. She walked towards a giant door that leaked sunlight from the bottom, and pushed it open a tad. Bright lights flooded her senses, and she closed the door behind herself.

The roar emitted again, and she followed the sound towards a base, larger than the one she just came from, that had two doors only.

She opened the massive door just a little bit and walked in, closing it behind her. The building was massive, but empty, with viewing rooms on the side. But the beings inside of it were massive and Laceburner suddenly realized why the building was ten times the size of the other one. Seven different dinosaur-looking bots, all infinetly taller than her, stared down at the small, blue femme.

The tallest one, who Laceburner didn't know yet was Grimlock, roared a little.

 _So that's the sound_ she thought.

 _ **Idiot. You should've stayed where it was safe.**_ the voice in her head barked at her before one of the dinobots flew around in the air, landing gracefully in front of her. It had one body, but two tails, two necks, and two heads. Laceburner, without thinking, lifted servo to place it at the point where his two necks met. A purring sound emitted from his throats, and he angled his head so that she could scratch easier. She smiled, her visor brightened, and another purr came from his right head. Another Dinobot walked over - this one had three horns, tusks, and pinkish looking optics. She ran her free servo along the underside of this one's head, and **he** purred too.

 _ **Ok. Maybe it's fine.**_

One by one they took their turns being rubbed, until the biggest one walked up, his red optics peircing through her visor and into her silver optics. He lowered his head and made a sound from the back of his throat as his mouth opened a little. She ran her hand down the length of his head, and down his neck. He made a loud sound, almost like a moan, and laid down when she made a failed attempt to scratch his back. They all followed suit, laying down around the base, and around Laceburner, as she scratched them in an order.

With Scorn and Snarl, even though she didn't know their names, it was a little difficult because of the spikes on their back, but she managed.

 _ **3 HOURS LATER**_

When a new bot that nobody knows shows up, everybody's a little suspicious - there's always that possibility that she's not an Autobot or Neutral, but rather a Decepticon spy. So you can imagine the anger, suspicion and tension when the young, small femme that they _found_ on the forest floor - without somehow picking up her signal and finding her data banks empty - went **missing** this morning.

"You two are the idiots that brought her here in the first place!"

"I thought you said your scans stated she was a neutral?"

"They did."

"We're all going to be attacked because of you two aftholes!"

"Oww, man!"

"Dat hurt!"

"Good!"

"Mechs!" Elita-One cut in "Listen."

They all stopped talking, and listened, but nothing happened. Not _one single sound_. Finally, Ironhide got frustrated

"What are we listening for?" he growled. Chromia wrapped an arm around her Sparkmate's waist as he growled again "There's no sound."

"Exactly." Elita-One said "Grimlock isn't roaring to be let out."

Everybody tensed, worried that the escaped femme may have taken them with her, before they were all transformed down and heading towards the base not too far away. Optimus yanked the door open and what they saw had them gaping, mouths wide open.

The little bright blue femme sat in the middle of the floor of the hangar against Grimlock's stomach. Her visor was pitch black, she had an arm thrown up against Grimlock's body, leaning against Grimlock, and the rest of the Dinotbots were laying on the floor, in a maze of metal limbs that prevented any of them from reaching Laceburner in the middle of the floor. Slug was next to her, one of his tusks against her thigh.

"Laceburner?" Optimus called

Suddenly, the small femme jerked, her visor lit up and she turned to look at the direction of the sound. She gasped and tried backing up further into Grimlock, away from the array of peircing blue optics, focused on _her._ Grimlock must've felt her panicking because his optics snapped open, and he stood in front of the femme protectively and roared. That, of course, woke every other Dinobot up, so they all roared, looking around for the danger. Grimlock snarled at the line of mechs and femmes who stood at the entrance.

Then, he stopped snarling and looked down at his foot. The little blue femme had a servo against his leg, making comforting sounds. Grimlock grumbled and leaned down so his snout was within her reach, so she lifted her servo and place it on his nose. She hadn't spoken a single word yet, but they practically communicated through their optics and movements.

There was a scraping sound as Slug pawed the ground and ran at the Autobots. Laceburner noticed and stepped in front of his path; he skidded to a stop and made noises at her, almost as if he was angry with her. Again, she placed a servo on one of his tusks, and he suddenly dropped to the ground and purred. She sat herself down in front of him stroking his face plates. His pink optics softened and drooped shut.

Moonracer took a massive leap of faith and walked up to the small femme. She sat next to Laceburner. The blue femme glanced up at her, but her attention stayed on the relaxed Dinobot.

Seeing how Laceburner was doing it, Moonracer placed a servo on Slug's back, but the metal mech's optics shot open. A blue servo wrapped around Moonracer's wrist and gently lifted her servo off of Slug's back. Moonracer turned her helm to see Laceburner shaking her helm. She motioned for the green femme to sit on the other side of her; seeing as Moonracer wasn't up for offlining, she followed the instructions.

Laceburner continued stroking the Dinotbot's head until his optics slipped shut again, then she placed Moonracer's servo against Slug's cheek. He grumbled, but kept his optics closed. Suddenly, a gust of air graced Laceburner's neck and she turned around, standing up in the proccess, to see Slash waiting to be pet. She stroked the side of his face, almost smiling when he let out a purr, but remembered the line of bots she didn't trust that were most likely staring at her.

She looked over at them, and flinched when the blue of their optics invaded her senses. Slash looked over at them and snarled, but Laceburner stroked his hip to calm him down. Suddenly, Moonracer was next to her, her servo on little Laceburner's shoulder. She motioned for Laceburner to follow her with her helm, and Laceburner nodded, stepping close to her.

She used Moonracer as something to hide behind, before Moonracer stopped next to Ratchet.

"Just stay with Ratchet for a second, alright?" she said

Laceburner's optics widened, and her visor flashed a little, but she paused for a second, then nodded. Moonracer was slightly shocked, but nodded. As soon as Moonracer moved away, the little femme disappeared behind Ratchet's wide frame, the tip of her visor peeking around his shoulder just a tad bit.

Moonracer, Arcee and Chromia walked to the back, and unlocked the largest door at the opposite end of the hangar. Swoop let out a screech, and he and Strafe flew out of the base. The rest of the bots walked out, but Grimlock stayed behind, his red optics looking straight at Laceburner. He walked up to Ratchet, and stuck his head behind him, into Laceburner's space. The little blue femme smiled, and a giggle escaped her vocaliser before she could stop it, then ran her servos over the Dinobot's nose. The metal T-Rex huffed, then straightened back up and he sprinted off after his other Dinotbots.

"Looks like you made a good impression on Grimlock." Ratchet said, turning around to look at her.

"Hey! I'm da mech w'o saved ya!" one little mech, with red/orange paint said, walking up to her. He got to close to Laceburner, and she started trying to back up, but Ratchet was in the way.

"Nuh uh. I saved ya too! Don' lis'en tah this frag head." another mech, same size, but bright green, said , getting even closer.

Laceburner's shoulders started going up and down as she took more and more vents in, panicking.

"Fahne, we bot' saved ya, can we hav' a hug?" the red/orange one smiled and winked.

Her optics widened beneath her visor, as she tried to stumble further back.

"Skids, Mudflap, stop!" a deep, deep voice rumbled out from the mech she had met, Optimus, but the twins continued

"Come on, jus' one hug is all weh need." the green one smiled, opening his ams and stepping closer

By now, Laceburner had begun to panic, her shoulders moving up and down her panic attack. She was backed up against Ratchet, and Moonracer wasn't back from wherever she and her sisters had gone so she had no one she could run to yet. The mech designated Ratchet was ok, but he wasn't Moonracer.

They were way to close; images of different mechs of different sizes, ages and shapes, all smiling sickly at her fashed across her vision, then dissappeared just as quickly as they appeared, and she broke down, falling to the ground and wrapping her arms around her legs to pull them closer with a loud whimper.

Then, two black servos reached down and pulled the two bots away from her, smashed them together, then threw them out of the building. Ratchet stepped in front of her, on one knee to be at eye level with her, and placed his two servos on her shoulders, tryin to tempt her to pull her head up.

"Laceburner?" he asked softly.

She looked up at him slowly, only a tiny bit, before her visor suddenly was lifted and tucked at the back of her helm. Ratchet creased his brow confusingly. Most bots with visors used them as shields. All of his thoughts were chased away when his own optics bore into those of the brightest shade of blue he'd ever seen, almost a silver blue, contained in two tiny shaped optics.

"Ratchet?" Optimus asked

As soon as his voice reached his and Lacebunrer's audios, the visor snapped back around and covered her optics. It suddenly dawned on Ratchet; she was opening up to him the best she knew how - the only way she knew how thanks to her meomory loss. It was a massive step for a little femme with trust issues.

"Yes, Optimus?" the CMO asked

"Is she ok?" Prime asked

"Yes, just shooken up. Come on, they're gone." he said, trying to coax her around him. Optimus leaned down onto one knee and looked at her optics through her visor. Her frame was shaking slightly, obviously scared still.

"I apologize for their behaviour." Optimus said sincerely. She nodded slightly, then stood behind Ratchet again.

"Hey gu- what happened?" Moonracer asked as she walked out of the back room. She immediatley looked over at the little blue femme hiding behind her Sparkmate.

"Skids and Mudflap." was all Ironhide had to say for her to understand.

"Laceburner, are you ok?" she asked.

The little femme nodded, but stayed where she was behind Ratchet.

"Yo man, dat hurt." Skids complained. Moonracer saw two blue servos fly up and grip the side of Ratchet's forearm in some form of panic, and caught a glimpse of red flash over her visor. But she wasn't the only one who saw the red flash of her visor.

"Hey! What just happened!" Sunstreaker suddenly yelled, before his swords slid out of his wrists, looking straight at Laceburner

"What?" Sideswipe asked, turning to look at his twin.

He growled and flung a sword towards her. It flipped through the air, over Ratchet's shoulder, and Laceburner ducked just in time for it to fly into wall behind her.

"Sunstreaker!" Prowl yelled.

The golden Autobot growled and began marching over to Ratchet.

 _ **Run! You fragging idiot, go!**_

Laceburner knew she was his target, and her optics widened under her visor, which was glitching from blue to red, then back, and she started walking backwards, hyperventalating.

 _ **I. Said. Run!**_

"Sunstreaker, cease this." Optimus ordered, but the golden twin continued walking towards her

"Sunstreaker, enough." Prowl ordered

Sunstreaker got closer to her, and closer, and all to soon, despite the bigger bots' commands to stop, the mech designated Sunstreaker had her pinned against the wall, with a blade against her throat painfully. One single drop of her Energon dribbled down his blade. He was in her bubble, way too close, she was defenseless, and going to be k-

"Sunny, stop." Sideswipe said as he caught up to his twin and held him back,

"Her visor was red, she's a 'Con." Sunstreaker pointed out.

"Sunstreaker." Moonracer sighed "That's a nervous glitch she has. You know how Prowl glitches and fall unconcious. When she's nervous or scared her visor changes colors rapidly."

Everybody turned to look at the little blue femme presses against the wall - her visor flashing red, blue and green.

"See. She's completely safe. Her optics are blue underneath." Ratchet pointed out as Sideswipe pulled Sunny back and away from Laceburner.

"How d'you know?" Jazz asked

"She showed me." he shrugged, walking up to Laceburner and crouching down "Are you ok?" he asked

Moonracer walked up beside her Sparkmate "Sorry about that. Sunny got a little confused."

Laceburner's visor stapped glitching, and she nodded. Ratchet stood up and Laceburner cowered behind him.

 _ **You coward. You couldn't even stand up for yourself.**_ the voice spat at her, and she did her best to ignore it.

The sound of happy roaring from Grimlock reached Laceburner's audios and she smiled at the sound.

"Come on, come back to the other base." Moonracer said, and helped hide Laceburner as she, Moonracer and Ratchet left.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Laceburner was alone in the Med Bay. Ratchet had told her to, when she was comfotable, go looking around the base. Part of him had told her that, hoping she'd get lost and associate with the other bots.

In actuality she had stayed on the berth she was originally placed on, finding amusement in sliding her visor up, then down, then back up, then back down- it seemed so weird that she could do that.

 _ **That's because you're a wimp.**_

Finally, in an attempt to shut the voice up, she got up and walked over to the door. It slipped open and she looked up to see the twins who had scared her in the first place - Optimus had called them Skids and Mudflap. They were smiling almost to happily.

"Hey! We figured we fin' ya now an' ask for a hug again." the green one smiled.

Laceburner began walking backwards, attempting to get away, but they followed and the door slid shut behind them

"Please? We'd be real grateful" the orange one smiled cheekily, and opened his arms.

They both walked closer, and Laceburner kept walking backwards. Then, she tripped and landed on her behind, but they didn't stop getting closer.

Eventually, she found herself back by the door. It slid open, and she turned around and scattered herself up, processor dipped so far in fear she didn't think of anything but the fact that they were getting closer, and closer.

"Come on, pleas'?" the green one asked

Then, she exited the room, and backed right into a wall - no, walls were wasn't flat, it had bumps going down the center of it, almost like abdominal muscles; this was a bot. She looked up to see the _'Sunstreaker'_ from before, and his twin designated Sideswipe. And her visor started glitching again.

"Come on, jus one hu- frag it."

The red colored twin looked at the other twins as they exited the Med Bay "Didn't Optimus order you two to your berth room?"

"Maybe, maybe no'. What's it to yah?" one of them asked, but Laceburner didn't see which one.

She had locked eyes with Sunstreaker when she backed into him, and, now, here she was, staring into he blue optics with fear, and maybe a little awe.

Sunstreaker held her gaze, but finally looked up to address the two smaller twins.

"To us, you didn't fulfill an order that our Prime gave you." he said.

"Get to your berthroom, aftholes." Sideswipe said.

"No." Skids said, crossing his arms. There was a _shink_ sound, and Sideswipe took out two blades from his wrist.

"Yes." he said, before the two of them turned and ran off.

He looked back down at Laceburner, after making sure they did leave, and spoke, "Are you ok, Laceburner?" he asked.

 _ **He knows... he knows your name. Ha! Probably because he pities a poor little idiot like you.**_

She nodded minutely, but backed away.

"Hey, we aren't going to hurt you. Come on, why don't you come with us to the rec. room?" he asked, then extended a servo. She stared at it fearfully for a second or two - her visor must've glitched colors again because Sunstreaker stiffened - before deciding, and she slipped her blue painted servo into his red one.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X**_

The rec. room wasn't that far from the med bay - she wondered if that was by design -, but with two mechs, one that had his blade pressed tightly against her throat earlier that day, walking with her was a bit nerving. What made her scared was when a light blue mech bounded in front of them, and got really close.

"Hey! You're the new femme! Laceburner, right? Wow, I love your paint. How old are you? You're kind of short. I like your visor. I'm Bluestreak, but Sideswipe and Sunstreaker have probably told you that. Where are you from? Iacon? Praxus? I'm from Praxus, it would be so cool if you were from Pra-"

"Bluestreak!" Sideswipe cut in, and Bluestreak looked up at him

"What? What happened?" he asked, looking around

"Stop talking so quickly, you're scaring her." Sideswipe said

Sunstreaker looked at the femme's visor, which started to flicker between black, blue and red. He place his servo on her back, and she jumped, looking up at him, then quickly back down.

"Oh, sorry Laceburner." he mumbled, then walked around Sideswipe and down the hall.

 _ **Good, and never come back.**_

"Sorry about him." Sideswipe said as he pulled Laceburner along the rest of the way.

The door slid open and Sideswipe marched her along. He plopped himself, and her, on the couch while Sunstreaker sat on her other side, boxing her in. This time, she felt her visor glitch.

"Relax. We aren't going to hurt you." Sunstreaker said

She looked up at him and swallowed thickly; Sideswipe used a clicker thingy to turn on a big black screen on. Something started happening on it.

She tried to stay interested in the thing that was happening on the black screen, but it didn't really work. She started playing with her armor, which accidently slipped off and landed in Sunstreaker's lap. She felt her cheeks heat up as she picked it back up and placed it on her arm. It clicked back into place, the clasps holding it down to her protoform.

"Why blue?"

She looked up to see Sideswipe watching her, and she furrowed her metal brows.

 _ **He's talking to you, fragface.**_

"Why'd you choose blue as your color?" he asked

Finally, after two days of of being around those bots, and staying quiet, she spoke.

"I-I can't remember." she said, her words soft.

Her voice was silky, but it shook and was extremely lacking in confidence.

 _ **Oh, grow a pair.**_

"Why don't you remeber anything?" Sideswipe asked

"I-I don't know." her voice cracked a little bit, and Sunstreaker was just vaguely able to see a tear run down her cheek before she ducked her helm down.

"Sorry, Lacey, I didn't mean to upset you." Sideswipe said

She sniffed "Lacey?" she asked, rubbing the tear of her face.

"Yeah, short for Laceburner. No one's ever given you a nick name before?" he asked

"Sides, if she can't remember the reason behind her paint color, why would she remember a nick name?" Sunstreaker asked, looking over the top of Laceburner's helm to lock optics with his twin's optics.

"I don't know, selective memory?" Sideswipe shrugged.

"Oh, Laceburner, you've made some frie- oh no."

The little, light blue femme looked up at Ratchet as he walked in to the room.

"Hey Hatchet!" Sideswipe smiled.

Ratchet wrenched him on the back of the helm, but in doing so scared Laceburner. She flinched further away, almost leaning into Sunstreaker.

"Sorry, Laceburner. He's an idiot." Ratchet said

"It-its' fine." she whispered.

Ratchet nodded, and handed her a cube. It was square, and had blue liquid inside that matched her paint color.

"This is called Energon. You need to consume it at least twice a day in order to function correctly. For now, I say stick to the normal Grade, this stuff. If it's dark purple, stay away from it. If it's light pink, you'd have to drink alot of it. I mean, a lot of it." He advised, and Laceburner nodded, taking it into her hands.

 _ **Don't drink it. For all you know, they poisoned it because they don't want to put up with you. I know I wouldn't.**_

She raised it to her mouth plates on instinct, and took a sip of it.

Eventually, the liquid was gone, and she placed the clear cube on the floor in front of her. She leaned back awkwardly, and there was suddenly a red arm was around her shoulders. She looked at it as it rested on the front of her shoulder, and one finger twitched.

"Hey bots." a voice said, and Laceburner looked up to see a small, silver mech walk in to the room, and sit on a chair to the left of the couch; he had a visor that resembled hers, but his was a little more blue.

"Hey Jazz." Sideswipe said absently, but his optics didn't movie from the screen on the far wall. One by one, more and more bots entered the room, and suddenly there was twelve other bots in the room.

When that... thing ended, somebot got up to change it, and a red and orange mech looked at Laceburner.

"So Laceburner, where are you from?" he asked

She shrunk further into the couch, and her optics darted around as everyone looked at her expectantly. Too many optics, not enough space, she was stuck between two of them, and she couldn't handle it.

Her visor glitched.

 ** _X-X-X-X-X-X-X_**

 **Oh no! I hope you all enjoyed this one, and I love you guys. And who knows, maybe there's a special Number 51 on it's way to SJAL for you guys ;) Have a good one guys, hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to review ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here you go everybody! Chapter 3! I just realized, I started this story, hoping to name the chapters, but completely forgot to on the first chapter, so there's no point anymore. Anyways, here you go; un-named-because-I'm-an-idiot-chapter-3! Enjoy! Don't forget to visit the poll on my page for the next story and to review! Hope everybody's enjoyed their day, and summer for everybody going through this killer heat XD. Thank god for air conditioners.**

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

"What was that?" the red and orange mech asked, and her visor glitched again.

"Relax. She has a nervous glitch in her visor." Sideswipe said, and his arm tightened around her shoulders; it didn't help. He must've realized it, because he brought his arm back to his side. Her visor stopped glitching, slowed down at least, and she looked at the original person who asked the question.

"Pardon?" she asked, her voice wavering a little.

 _ **Listen to the question, dumbaft.**_

"Where are you from? Which city-state?" the red and orange mech asked again.

"Uhm..." she trailed off, not really knowing how to answer the question.

"She lost her memory, Hot Rod. She can't remember anything." Sunstreaker said.

Laceburner sunk further into the couch, and a red arm wrapped back around her shoulders. She released a large breath evenly, and "Hot Rod" dropped the subject.

The thing on the wall started showing something else, and Laceburner tried to stay interested in it, but failed in doing so. Instead, she stood up and walked to one of the walls that was blocked by a big thing carrying what looked like cases. They had a variety of words on them, some including _'Call of Duty', 'Halo 4',_ and _'Resident Evil'_. Some of the cases were darker, some were brighter, and Laceburner saw her different things pop up in her vision, offering information about them for her.

"I's your HUD." a voice said, and she turned around to see a silver mech, with a visor a lot like hers, only lighter, standing in front of her.

"P-Pardon?" she asked

 _ **Listen. To. The. Question.**_

"I's your HUD. You're confused at what you're looking at, so your HUD's doin' an internet search for ya." he responded

"Internet search?" she asked

 _ **Idiot. Idiot. All idiot. You're embarrassing me.**_

"Yeah. You know, the world wide web. Kinda similar to Cybertron's database." he said, but all he did was confuse her more.

"Cybertron?" she asked

He hesitated "Our home planet..."

"She lost all accessible memory, Jazz. She doesn't know what you're talking about." someone said from behind Laceburner.

Her visor glitched red, her optics widened, and she spun around quickly to see Sunstreaker. Her visor went back to back to black, her optics went back to their original size, and she stepped closer to Sunstreaker, away from Jazz.

She trusted Sunstreaker more than a mech she didn't know.

"Ah know tha' Sunny. Ah'm tryin' tah see if Ah can spark a memory outta her." Jazz said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You won't." Sunstreaker advised, then looked down at the little blue femme in front of him, that stared up into his optics innocently, "They're called video games. You use something called a controller to play as an avatar walking around, trying to kill your opponents." he explained

Laceburner's head tipped to the side innocently, then she peered at the video game cases. She reached out and hesitantly touched one with her index digit, then her servo was whipped back to her chest.

"Wha's wrong?" Jazz asked, confused.

 _ **We're idiots. Have you not figured that out yet,**_ _Jazz_ _ **?**_

 _What do you mean, us?_

 _ **Haven't you figured it out yet, sweet cheeks? You and I are one in the same.**_

She furrowed her optics ridges, and let her digits grace lightly over the cases again, before she grabbed one and flipped it over to read the back. Her optics sidled over the little black words, then placed it back on the shelf.

She felt her "HUD" doing the so-called internet search, before she was staring at a screen instead of the case. It made her jump, but something happened in front of her eyes and she watched it with pure interest. The playing thing showed a weapon, and a surrounding Laceburner hadn't ever seen before. The avatar ran around, shooting little things that made odd sounds and had triangles on their back. The little things had tiny weapons that were purple and green, and a sideline internet search told her it was called a "grunt."

When the video ended, the screen disappeared, and she was suddenly staring at a pair of legs. Her optics moved up to the thighs, past the person's abdomen and reached the face of Optimus Prime.

He knelt down to one knee to look at her face to face. She took a step back, and hit Sideswipe before she could get anywhere significant. His servos touched her shoulders, and she felt his thumbs run back and forth along her shoulders in a soothing manner.

"Relax Lacey. Optimus just wants to meet you again." he said.

Laceburner's visor flashed red once, before Sideswipe felt her shoulders relax under his grip.

"If Optimus wanted to do anything to you, he would've done it by now. You were spaced out for quite some time." Arcee added.

Laceburner's helm tilted; she spaced out?

 _ **Yeah, spaced out. It means we weren't paying attention.**_

"She wasn't spaced out." Sunstreaker said

"She was watchin' some'in on 'er HUD." Jazz explained.

"Oh, well-"

"Laceburner!" a voice called out. The little blue femme jumped, and looked around Sunstreaker. Ratchet and Moonracer walked in, holding servos. Moonracer gestured for her to follow; she walked around Sunstreaker and stopped in front of the pair of medics.

"Optimus, Moonracer and I are going to take Laceburner to get an alternative vehicle. We shouldn't be long, I'll comm you when we need the bridge to open again or if we need help." Ratchet said

"Alright." Optimus nodded, and Moonracer nodded at Laceburner to follow her. The little femme padded over nervously, hiding behind Ratchet and Moonracer as soon as she got the chance.

Moonracer giggled, and looked at her, "You ready?"

"F-For what?" she asked.

"You need an Earth alt. mode. Ratchet and I are going to take you." Moonracer explained.

"What's an..." she trailed off.

"An alt? It's an alternative mode. Cybertronians have the ability to transform down into what humans call cars, and you need to scan one." he explained

"Hu..mans?" Laceburner asked; this was _not_ helping! She was just getting more and more confused.

 _ **Have we always been this dumb?**_

"The indigenous species on this planet." Moonracer said.

"O-Okay." Laceburner nodded.

"Perfect, come with us." the light green femme smiled

Laceburner followed them into a small room with a peculiar looking machine. Ratchet pressed a few buttons on what looked like a keypad, before it started swirling inside.

"It's a teleportation device, Laceburner. It'll bring us to the co-ordinates Ratchet just typed in." Moonracer explained. With furrowed optic ridges, Laceburner stepped closer to it.

"You walk through it." Ratchet instructed.

She looked at it hesitantly, but took a step in. It was like a bright blue tunnel, but it was dark on the other side. She walked through, then stepped out of the tunnel, on the ground. She looked down, raising her ped to look at the stuff on the bottom of it. It was brown, sticky, and wet. She grimaced slightly, shaking her ped in an attempt to get it off.

"That's called dirt." Moonracer said as she walked out of the tunnel, followed by Ratchet.

 _ **Dirt. Heh, that's what we are.**_

Laceburner grimaced again, looking around. Where ever they were, was dark, with one big building to her left, and a line of dingy looking things with four circular things holding them up.

"Those are called cars. Scan one of them. they aren't exactly the best, but you need one in order to go get a better one." Moonracer said, pointing towards them.

Laceburner let her confusion show on her face. Ratchet let off a chuckled, and something flashed across her vision. A big bot, about Optimus's size, with black armor and red eyes, chuckling down at her with a smirk across his face, then it disappeared. She gasped, stepping back.

"Laceburner..?"

She turned around and ran, looking for a hiding spot.

"Laceburner!" she heard.

Her legs moved faster as she heard thumping behind her. She looked for a place to hide, before there was a blue flash, and suddenly she was down, low to the ground, and there was a loud sound that made her vibrate. Before she knew it, she was speeding away. There was a loud sound, and suddenly she was on something different. It looked like a hallway, with a yellow line down the middle of the ground, surrounded by different buildings.

 _ **Hey, she said your name, are you just going to ignore her?**_

There was annoying, high pitched sound, which scared her again, and suddenly she was rolling along at a rather quick pace. Too fast.

Then she was in an alley by the looks of it, panting as she shook in spot. What the Pit was that? She shook again, and a light green thing - a car - pulled up in front of her slowly.

"Laceburner?" she asked.

There was a loud sound, like something growling, and she felt herself vibrating. She gasped, and suddenly lurched forward. The green car in front of her lurched backwards a little.

"Laceburner? It's me, Moonracer." she said.

Laceburner let off a deep breath, and shivered as she relaxed.

"Are you okay?" she asked

Laceburner looked around, "Wh-What happened to me?" she asked

"Well, your visor glitched after Ratchet laughed, you scanned a car and took off. Do you think you can slow down next time?" Moonracer asked.

"Is-Is that Ratchet? The thing behind you?" she asked

"Yes, that's Ratchet in his alternative mode." Moonracer explained, "Okay, do you feel those two bar under you steering wheel, in front of the driver's seat? One's horizontal, one's vertical?" she asked.

Laceburner stopped, found her steering wheel, then felt around under it for them.

"Yes." she said.

"The farthest one is the one that will make you go faster. Slowly push it down until you have the speed you want, then don't push it further. The horizontal one makes you stop quicker" Moonracer explained, "The thing next to your chairs in the front is a gear shift. You need to move it so that it's next to the letter D. That means drive." Moonracer explained, then she backed away and disappeared from the hallway.

Laceburner furrowed her brows, then felt around for the thing Moonracer had explained. It took three tries until she managed to move it next to the letter D. The same loud noise resonated and Laceburner felt the same vibration through her frame. After a few minutes, she slightly pushed the long thing down. This time, she rolled forward slowly. She let go of the long thing, and she slowly rolled to a stop.

"Much better. Try to go a tiny bit faster." Moonracer encouraged. Pressing the thing down a little further, Laceburner felt herself pick up speed, and before long they were going the same speed as the others around them.

"Laceburner, pull into the empty lot up ahead, we have an alt mode for you." Moonracer spoke, and Laceburner slowed, turning into the lot

 _ **Well, would you look at that. We can follow orders without messing up.**_

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Ratchet stepped out of the ground bridge, turning back around to offer his servo to Laceburner so she could land on the ground safely. Moonracer jumped out behind the bright blue femme, and the ground bridge closed right behind her with a zap.

"You all good?" he asked.

Moonracer nodded, and Laceburner hid behind her again.

"Whoa, watch out!" something yelled, and Laceburner almost tripped trying not to put her foot down, but Ratchet grabbed her arm to help her from falling.

She smiled slightly as a thanks and looked down. Something small stood at her feet, looking up at her. It was dark skinned, with nothing on top of his head, and dark eyes.

"Hey, did you hear me?" he asked, then looked behind him. "This is the new one, right?"

"Yes. This is Laceburner, our new recruit." the tall bot, Optimus, said.

 _ **Pfft, recruit. You'd be lucky if we don't trip over our own feet and tumble around into a trap, and cause you more worries than we're worth.**_

"You okay Lacey?"

She looked up, blinking. It took her a few seconds before she nodded.

"Hey Laceburner. What alt mode did you get?" a voice asked.

The femme, who she didn't recognize as Arcee, asked with what looked like an excited expression.

 _ **Yeah, what alt mode do we have, idiot?**_

She shrugged in confusion.

"Oh, well it's interesting that you ask that Arcee, while Sunstreaker's in the area, and listening. You see, on this base there's a lack of femme power, and I got sick of it." Moonracer asked with a smile. "I contacted some human officials who gave me access to this special car."

"So?" Sunstreaker asked from his spot beside Sideswipe, where they were polishing, cleaning and repairing some of their weapons.

"So, this is one of the fastest cars in the world. It cost quite a lot to get a few hours with it, and we didn't even use it for more than one thing. Either way, I wanted Laceburner here to have at least one thing over all the mechs here, so do me a favor. Use that human video-tube or whatever and watch a race between your alt mode and a Hennessey Venom GT." she smirked.

Sunstreaker's optics went dull.

"Son of a bitch, **that** 's her alt. mode?" one of the humans asked, and her optics widened in panic again. She didn't know her so-called "alt mode" was fast.

"Impossible." she heard a deep voice mumble, and then Sunstreaker was staring at her. "Is that car even street legal over here? How the Pit did you get your servos on it?" he asked.

All Arcee did was smirk, and Sunstreaker's gaze continued to practically pierce her visor.

 _ **That's the only time he'll look at us too, like we're nice enough to look at. Not unless it's because we're next on his Kill List, or he hates us.**_

She furrowed her brow, hiding further behind Ratchet, who stood in front of her.

Suddenly, a feminine laugh crossed the room. "Yes!" Arcee exclaimed. "It's about time we had some femme able to beat every mech in this building, ha!" she laughed, high fiving Moonracer.

Laceburner felt eyes on her, and peeked around Ratchet's right arm to see Sunstreaker's optics boring into hers. His eyes didn't waver, didn't move, just stared straight at her, and her own eyes widened before hiding back behind Ratchet, her visor going a darker black.

She took immediate notice of the two mechs in the corner, pushing each other around as they argued, and kept her mouth shut.

"Laceburner, I see you have chosen an alternative mode, have you become accustom to it?" Optimus asked her.

A picture, silhouette really, of someone tall, looming over and smiling down at her sadistically zapped past her view. She gasped and backed away.

"Laceburner?" Moonracer asked, but she didn't hear her.

Instead, she turned and ran out of the base, transforming down involuntarily.

"Wait, Laceburner!" Ratchet yelled, transforming and booking after her.

Laceburner, having been much farther than the others, spun around a corner and almost crashed into a large foot, but managed to swerve and miss it by just a little. She stood up, looking at Grimlock, who blocked the sun from piercing her visor and reaching her eyes. He peered down at her curiously as Slug walked over to her and lowered his head for her to pet, while Slash crouched down and attempted to lick off the tears that had spilled onto her face.

She smiled, and opened her optics to see the group racing towards her. Her optics widened with panic, and her servos tightened around Slug. Grimlock turned towards the group, placing his feet around Laceburner protectively so that she stood a little behind his right foot, and leaned forward a little as he roared.

Optimus, upon arriving close enough to them, transformed up and looked at the giant beast.

"We wish not to harm her." he said simply.

The giant T-Rex, in response, snorted, stomped his left foot a little, but didn't move any other way.

Moonracer took a step forward, watching as they all snarled at her, and very slowly walked over to Laceburner.

Slash tossed his head around in what looked like anger, but Laceburner touched his shoulder reassuringly and he huffed.

"You ok?" she asked.

Laceburner paused, then shook her head as her visor glitched green.

"No? What happened back there?" she asked, a little concerned and a little curious.

Laceburner shivered in a response before wrapping her arms around Slash as best she could. He growled in comforting manner, and Laceburner shook her head again.

All of the sudden, Grimlock wrapped his tail around her to lift her up and place her on his back.

"It-It's ok." she stuttered, wrapping her arms around his neck as well as her tiny arms could.

He huffed, his mouth opened as he roared to the sky. There was a few screeches that followed, and Grimlock turned towards the small base before heading that way. He stopped by the door, where there was a line of on-watching humans, and he placed her down again.

She hugged his face for a second then pulled back, and he lifted his head to roar a little again, then headed off the way the rest of his buddies went, disappearing from her view, and she was left to enter the hangar quickly in order to avoid the eyes of the Autobots who rounded the corner just a second later.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

"Hey Lacey." a feminine voice said.

Laceburner looked over from where she sat on the couch; she'd found another rec room, of sorts. It was in a more secluded area, with nothing other than a TV, couch, coffee table and a thing with CDs in them of movies. On top of that, the room was smaller than the communal rec room.

The femme she'd been introduced to as Chromia entered the room.

"We've been looking for ya." she smiled, and Laceburner leaned forward to place her Energon on the table.

"So, Ratchet gave us the ok on your physical. You know my sparkmate, Ironhide?" she asked.

Laceburner thought for a second; if she remembered correctly, Ironhide was the very large, black colored guy with those massive cannons he seemed to love flaunting.

She nodded, her visor darkening a little.

"Ok, well he and I want to give you the opportunity to show us what you've got. We want to know where you'd excel in this base." she smiled. "So, if I would have the pleasure of escorting you to the training room, would you be willing to work with us?" she asked.

For just a second, she faltered.

 _ **You know what that means? That means can we test to see how easily you can be killed?**_

Of course, there was the voice. It never seemed to leave, even when she was relaxing, and no one was around her. It was just... always there.

She stood up hesitantly, and nodded. Chromia led her out of the room, down the hall and into one of the training rooms. Ironhide stood there, along with Optimus Prime, and Jazz, Prowl, and a few other bots. She noticed Sunstreaker standing beside Ironhide, and Sideswipe stood on the mat.

"Welcome Laceburner." Optimus said.

She smiled tightly.

"If Chromia informed you, all we plan to do is see where your skills would succeed the most. We have Sideswipe who offered to help determine as well." he explained.

Laceburner nodded, and let herself get a little smaller.

 _ **That means we're going to put him up against you so he can kill you. Be careful, I don't wanna die.**_ the voice urged.

"So, if you can just stand across from Sideswipe, we'll start." Ironhide said.

She knew for sure that her visor glitched, because Sunstreaker clenched his fists, and moved into a fighting stance, but didn't move towards her. She stepped onto the mat across from Sideswipe.

"It's alright Lacey, I promise to go easy on you." he said sincerely.

She nodded.

"Alright. We're just going to perform a small spar, an evasive spar on your part. Do your best to not let Sideswipe near or touch you. If you get comfortable enough, spar with him." Ironhide explained, and Laceburner saw Chromia smile; he was being so gentle, Chromia had never seen him get like this. As if Laceburner was his sparkling.

Laceburner looked back at Sideswipe.

 _ **Don't kill us.**_ the voice barked as Sideswipe lunged.

She managed to move away a little, but Sideswipe still managed to catch her leg, causing her to stumble a little, and her eyes went wide.

"It's alright Lacey, I won't hurt you, I promise." he said again, then lunged.

This time, he took her to the ground, but she managed to get out from underneath him and backed away in fear.

 _ **He's lying, kill him.**_ The voice urged.

 _I'm not gonna kill him, he's not doing anything!_

 _ **Yeah, you're just a chicken shit.**_

With her distraction, Sideswipe managed to grab her arm, but she pulled as hard as she could and managed to escaped.

"Come on Lacey, you gotta either evade or spar." Sideswipe said, his eyes holding a pleading look. "You can't just keep getting caught and run."

 _ **Fragging**_ _ **fight**_ _ **. Defend us! Kill him!**_ The voice snarled.

Sideswipe lunged again, and Laceburner let herself fall to the floor, causing Sideswipe to trip and fall. She heard the line of bots a little ways away sigh in frustration; she knew this wasn't what they wanted her to do, but she couldn't.

 _ **Yes you can. Figure it out!**_

But how was she supposed to figure it out?

In her distraction again, Sideswipe managed to grab her, releasing a blade and grabbing her arms to stop her from moving. He pinned her to his chest, placing the blade against her neck.

"Lacey, you **have** to fight Princess." he said, letting her go slightly.

 _ **Fragging**_ _ **move**_ _ **! I'm done with your crap!**_

 _What?_

That was the last thing she remembered before everything went black.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

When Laceburner woke back up, she was laying in the Med Bay again. The only difference from the last time she was in the Med Bay was that Jazz sat on a berth across from her, his leg removed from his body.

"Aha, you're awake."

She jumped at the voice, looking over to see Ratchet.

He chuckled. "It's okay, no one's going to hurt you. Although you did a number on Jazz."

"Didn't know ya had it in ya, Lacey. Good job." the silver saboteur smiled at her.

She couldn't see herself in anyway, but she had no doubt in her mind that her visor was glitching.

 _ **That's because the**_ _ **you**_ _ **part of us is a wimp.**_ There was the voice again, an ever constant presence sitting in her head.

 _What did you do?_ she asked.

 _ **What**_ _ **you**_ _ **should've done.**_ It snarled at her.

"Laceburner?" Ratchet asked, and she looked up. He crouched down beside her. "Do you remember anything after Sideswipe let you go?" he asked.

She shook her head, and he sighed. "I was afraid of that. Well, we noticed your visor flashed green and stayed green for about a whole minute, so Sideswipe let you go to make sure you were okay, and we walked over too because you weren't moving. When your visor went back to black, you seemed to jump, and attempted to punch Jazz, who was in front of you. When that failed, you attempted to take off, and got into the main hangar before Jazz caught you. You had, for a lack of better terms, a spar in there with Jazz, and broke a few tables before you managed to pull his leg off. It wasn't until you got outside that you collapsed. When we brought you in to the Med Bay, your visor was still green, but it quickly faded back to black, and you've been asleep since." he said.

 _WHAT DID YOU DO?!_ she yelled, but the voice chose **now** to not speak.

"Lacey, it's okay. We figured that it wasn't ya in control of yourself. Ya basically refused to fight Sides when given the chance, so it wouldn't be ya fightin' me like that." Jazz reassured.

 _ **See? They're fine with it.**_

In fear, Laceburner wrapped her arms around her knees.

"Hey Lacey! How you doin'?"

She looked over to see Sideswipe entering the room, holding a plastic box. He placed it down on a counter, and walked over, sitting beside her on the berth.

"Don't worry Lacey, nobody's angry at you. A little impressed, and somewhat shocked, but not angry." he promised, but she looked away either way, curling into a fetal position and wrapping her arms around her legs just as Sunstreaker walked in with another box.

"There you go Ratchet. That's everything." he said.

The berth she was sitting on groaned, and a hand touched her back.

"How are you doing, Laceburner?" a deep voice asked, but she didn't look up at Sideswipe. She couldn't.

Why would they trust her anymore is she couldn't even control herself?

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

 **Did I just do a super cliché chapter that involves giving Lacey one of the fastest cars in the world, and a stereotypical ending? Yes. Yes I did. And I laughed too. Hope you guys enjoyed it XD Have a good one!**


	4. Chapter 4

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME :D! I figured I'd update for YOU guys, even though it's MY birthday because I love you guys and all the support you give me! I did spellcheck this, but my program is a little screwed in it's (legit) processor so there's probably typos and typos-spelling errors. My apologies, if they bother you just point them out and I'll fix 'em up. Enjoy and don't forget my poll ;)**

 **Also, for some people who may be confused _this writing is the voice_** , _this is Lacey's own thoughts._

 **Little teaser of some kind of backstory in here, but nothing too massive. Just enough to make it a little interesting in this chapter ;) Have a good rest of your day! School starts soon - barf - but I'm going to try and write more. For you guys! :D**

 **Enjoy!**

It was quiet right now. The voice was silent at the moment. She'd noticed that the voice spoke the least whenever she was around the dino guys, so she tried to be with them as much as possible.

 _ **I'm still here, idiot.**_

Then again, it never left her alone long enough for her to forget that it was there. Just enough that she had some space to think.

There was a chuff from beside her, where she looked up at Strafe, who sat in... giant bird form. He looked out at the water that surrounded the entire island calmly, from where they sat on the top of the dino base, like he didn't have a care in the world. They'd gone up earlier when she had gone to the base to see them, only to find all of them sleeping. Well, almost all. Everyone except for the two headed flier who had been sitting in the corner, staring at her. After a two minute stare off between the two, he walked over, placed her on his back, and the two flew up to the roof. That was a little while ago.

She enjoyed the silence; it was comforting for her. To know that she could actually get out of the noise, and into the silence where she could escape into her own little world.

"Lacey?"

She looked down at the ground as Strafe chuffed again, where the twins stood at the base's wall.

"What are you doing up there?" Sunstreaker asked. Wait, no. Sideswipe. Sunstreaker was the taller twin, the yellow one. Or was that gold with light hues? Either way, it was Sideswipe who asked the question.

 _ **Oh wow, you now some human terminology. Good job slag face.**_

 _Slag?_

 _ **It's a negative slang word used exclusively by Cybertronians. It's human counterpart is the negative swear word, shit, which is the curse word for human defecation.**_

 _That was.. really proper._

 _ **Yeah, and? Did you think I was-**_

"Laceburner!"

The voice stopped talking and she focused back on the twins who stood below her.

"How'd you get up there"

Once the question was registered, she looked up at the two headed bird beside her, who opened his mouth and screeched quietly, stretching his wings and flapping them a few times to air them out.

"Well, can you come down please?"

She furrowed her brow at the red twin. "Do you.. do you not trust them?"

He shook his head. "That's not it, it's just-"

"They're idiots. They're clumsy, and don't pay attention to what they're doing. They hurt a lot of people because they don't watch where they're going and don't do what they should. So no, I don't trust them." the yellow twin cut in. "Come down before you get hurt."

That shocked her a little; not long ago, that one had tried to kill her, now he was worrying about her.

Suddenly, Strafe was in the air and grabbed her shoulders in his claws, and gently placed her on the ground, before swooping into the base.

"Primus, those guys are going to hurt someone else soon." Sideswipe shook his head.

Sunstreaker eyed her. "Why were you even up there with him?"

She felt her cheeks get hot and she looked down at the ground instead.

Sideswipe laughed loudly. "We aren't mad Lacey. Sunny's just wondering."

"Sunstreaker, idiot. Don't call me that." he corrected.

"Why?" Sideswipe persisted.

She shrunk in on herself a little bit with a shrug. "It's..it's quiet when I'm around them."

Sunstreaker snorted. "They're never quiet."

Again, Laceburner shrugged. That wasn't exactly what she meant, but she wasn't about to correct him.

"Well, Sunny and I-"

Sunstreaker hit his twin upside the head.

"-were wondering if you wanted to come for a drive with us over on the main land, seeing as there isn't many placed to go around here." Sideswipe finished.

"Sideswipe!"

"What?"

" **Sunstreaker**." the yellow twin emphasized.

"Whatever, you want to come Lacey?" he asked.

She hesitated in her answer, then nodded.

"Awesome! Come on, we already had Ratchet get the ground bridge ready." the red mech smiled.

He transformed down eagerly, and she watched Sunstreaker do it as well. She furrowed her brow as her HUD pinged, and offered her the option to transform down, which she accepted. She folded down on herself until the thing keeping her body off the ground was her wheels, and her engine revved, ready to go.

"You're a little show off, Princess." Sideswipe said with a laugh.

"S-Sorry." she said quietly.

"It's o-"

"He's just joking Laceburner, it's okay." Sunstreaker reassured.

"Coming from you, Sunny?" Sideswipe asked.

"Are-are you sure you want me to come?" she asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Sideswipe asked.

"Well, I'm.. I'm not exactly the-" she cut herself off with silence.

"Are you talking about the incident with Moonracer and Ratchet?" Sunstreaker asked.

"How'd you know about that?" she asked, embarrassed.

"It's fine, ok? That won't happen, ok?" Sideswipe promised.

She faltered.

"Easy." she heard a deep voiced mumble, and she figured it was Sunstreaker from the vibration in his voice.

"Come on." Sideswipe said, and he began driving away. Sunstreaker, however, didn't move.

"Go on, Laceburner." he said, and she almost shivered at his voice.

Starting up her engine, she followed behind Sideswipe, and noticed Sunstreaker follow behind her.

 _ **He's like the head male of the wild herd.**_ the voice said, and she would've nodded.

He was; he let his most trusted - his twin - take the lead and bring them where they were going, and he brought up the rear to protect them.

He was a steady mech, and it brought her a sense of.. comfort, in a way. As if she knew him before she lost her memory, and the way he was acting seemed to bring her a sense of relief, almost.

Sideswipe led them into the same room from before, where they drove through the blue tunnel and ended up in an alleyway again.

"Primus, listen to your engine Lacey. That's fragging amazing." Sideswipe said as they left the alley way.

 _ **Don't blow our cover and be careful. They might try to kill you.**_ the voice chose to speak up, and she pressed the break slightly in shock, but kept going.

 _{:: You okay Laceburner?::}_ Sunstreaker's voice asked.

 _{::Um.. ye-yeah, sorry.::}_

 _{:: It's no problem::}_ he responded.

 _{::What is this?::}_ she asked.

 _{:: This is a private comm link. It's the only way the three of us can communicate without the humans knowing what we are. I'm sure if you ask Prowl, he can explain everything to you.::}_ Sunstreaker explained.

 _{::O-Oh-okay.::}_ she stuttered.

Sideswipe suddenly pulled up to a red light, Laceburner beside him, and Sunstreaker moved around her, stopping beside Sideswipe, then his engine revved.

 _{::You think you can keep up Laceburner?::}_ Sideswipe asked suddenly.

 _{::I-I-I think so.::}_

 _{::Good, because you're gonna have to follow me.::}_ Sideswipe said, then laughed.

 _{:: Laceburner, you stay on Sideswipe's aft, okay? Don't lose us.::}_ Sunstreaker ordered.

 _{::Y-yes sir.::}_ she said, and suddenly the light turned green. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker took off, their engines practically snarling, and Laceburner took off to follow them.

 _ **Jesus, this is going to be a quick drive, isn't it?**_ the voice asked rhetorically.

For the first time since she woke up, she agreed with the voice.

It was only after almost four hours of following them around, racing with them - and mostly losing due to her lack of experience driving - and a lot of laughs did they make it back to base, and she realized that the voice was wrong.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Laceburner sat on a couch, in the partial darkness of a room she didn't recognize. Her paint was dark black, with little to no highlights but it looked good - she managed to pull it off. She had a cube of Energon in her servos.

The door suddenly opened, and a mech with broad shoulders, dark brown and black in color walked in, his optics a dark red. Behind him, two other mechs, one a rusty orange-brown color with similar red optics, and one a tall, muscular mech with gold colored armor, and dark blue optics similar to hers. The gold-colored mech smiled at her.

"Hey 'Burner." he said as he sat down on the couch beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, his large frame practically consuming hers.

"Hi 'Chief. Did you guys get whatever Blacklurk was looking for?" she asked, pulling his arm off and he chuckled.

"You'll never let me, will you?"

She shook her head.

"I promised Cori, and she hates you." Laceburner pointed out.

"Hated." the rusty colored mech, Rustbreak, corrected.

"Rustbreak!" the dark brown mech, Ripple, said.

"She's out there." Laceburner insisted.

"Then where?" Rustbreak asked.

"How would I know? But she'll be back." Laceburner insisted.

Rustbreak went to open his mouth, but the door opened again and a bright blue femme with black highlights walked in.

"Rusty, leave her alone. Corinthian is out there, and she'll come home one day. Don't doubt that."

"Thanks Bellbreak." Laceburner smiled.

Another couple of bots entered the room, among them being Vega and Blacklurk.

"Hey guys." Vega smiled, sitting beside her fellow femme.

"Hey Vega, hey Lurk." Laceburner smiled.

"Evening Laceburner. How was your orn sweetie?" the dark, matte black mech asked, sitting beside Bellbreak on the two seater.

"Did you get what you were looking for?" Vega asked.

"We did in fact, Vega. Goldchief was the one who found it. He caught it's energy signal and pinpointed it's location."

The golden colored mech with black highlights sat up straighter, proud of himself and puffed his chest out, Blacklurk's words boosting his ego a couple notches.

"What exactly was it you went for?" Laceburner asked.

"It was a.. precautionary step." Blacklurk said.

She didn't press on with the matter. Blacklurk would only tell her information she needed to know, and would get angry if she kept going, so she dropped the subject.

 _ **Hey, get up idiot**_. she froze. That was the voice. Why had she not heard it until now?

 _ **Get. Up. Before they break the door.**_

She blinked.

"You okay Burner?" Rustbreak asked.

Laceburner suddenly blinked, and the room returned to her view, empty. Where the hell was she?

 _ **Wake. Up.**_

She opened her eyes to find herself on her bed, in her room, the lights off. She remembered that she and the twins had gone out to drive around for a bit. They'd had some fun, but when they got back she was really tired so she decided to go take a nap in her room.

There was a bang on the door.

"Laceburner, open this door or I will." she heard a deep voice that she recognized as Ironhide's yell.

 _ **Don't, maybe they'll kill you.**_

 _You were just the one telling me to open the door._

 _ **Yeah, and now I'm saying don't.**_

Ignoring the voice, she opened the door.

Optimus Prime stood behind Ironhide, who was next to Jazz, with Prowl behind him.

"Are ya okay?" Jazz asked.

"Sorry, I-I was sleeping." she apologized.

"It is of no bother Laceburner, I assure you. Everybot needs their recharge." Optimus said. "We were just hoping to teach you a few things today. Would you be willing to come to the training room with us?"

She hesitated for a second.

 _ **You sure**_ _ **that's**_ _ **what they want to do?**_

She'd gotten accustom to the voice in her head always questioning the safety of her situation, and if the move she was making was the right one.

 _ **Of course I do. You hurt yourself, you hurt me.**_ it said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

She nodded at Optimus minutely, just enough for him to notice, and he nodded back.

"Alright, come on."

She followed behind the four mechs obediently. Anything to get that dream out of her head.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Laceburner stood in the hallway in front of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's room, confused. Sideswipe had used that comm link thing earlier, telling her to come to their room after she was done in training with the bots.

This time around they'd gone with shooting instead of sparring. The femme, Arcee, was in there. As usual, she was smiling and bouncy, as if excited about the day for some reason.

"Laceburner! There you are!" she smiled upon the small, blue bot entering the room.

She smiled tightly. "Um.. hi."

"Did Ironhide tell you what we're doing today?" she asked.

Laceburner shook her head. "N-No."

"Well, we're sharpshooting today. I'm one of the Autobots' best sharpshooters. So, here. We're going to start you off with a small weapon, something that _can't_ kill someone." Arcee said, handing her a gun. "This is filled with things called foam darts. They're human inventions, and are perfect for target practice. So here, watch me." she instructed.

From there it was almost four hours of watching her whenever she said to, and shooting at targets with little, orange darts.

"Wow, you're not too bad at this Lacey." Arcee complimented, and she smiled.

Optimus dismissed her, and she left, remembering to head to the twin's room.

She knocked on the door, but nobody was opening yet.

"Who are you looking for?"

She turned to see a mech, if she was correct and her memory was serving her properly, Mirage walking down the hall, towards her.

"I-um-I-"

"It's okay Laceburner." he chuckled. "If you're looking for the twins, they're in the brig right now. Prowl caught them planting a prank, and sent them down."

"B-Brig" she asked.

"Yeah, it's- nevermind. I highly doubt you'll ever end up down there. Anyways, if you want, you can come with me. I was gonna head over to the rec room and play a few rounds of Halo with Hot Rod, but you can come and we can watch a movie. If you want to, that is."

 _ **You sure we'll never end up in there? We can be pretty fragging stupid.**_

With a hesitant nod, she followed the red mech down the hall, away from their room. They were walking for about a minute, Laceburner following behind him obediently until Mirage stopped suddenly.

"Laceburner, you can walk **with** me." he said.

She tensed, and saw her visor glitch green on the shine of his armor.

"Do you know when your visor glitches, or are you unaware of it?" he asked.

She froze, blinking. "Um.. n-no. No, I only know if I see it happening, or someone makes it obvious." she answered, looking down.

Suddenly, a finger propped her chin up, her optics looking with Mirage's bright blue ones from behind her visor.

"Hey, don't hide your face." he smiled. "It's too pretty to be hidden."

She felt heat rise to her cheeks as she smiled a little.

"There's the smile." he said lightly with a large smile, and she felt her cheeks heat up more. "Come on, Hot Rod will start wondering where we are."

She followed beside him this time until they made it to the recreation room, where the door was open. The red and orange mech, Hot Rod, sat on the two seater with a controller in his hand, the clicker stick thing on the arm rest beside him.

"Hey Hot Rod." Mirage said.

"Hey 'Raj. Oh, hey Laceburner." he said.

She offered him a small, closed smile.

"You coming to play too, or are you just watching?" he asked.

"She came to watch. I found her by the twin's room, but they're in the brig so I invited her to come watch." Mirage said as he sat down beside Hot Rod, leaving Laceburner to sit on the floor in front of them, one the other two seater, or the big couch.

She opted for the big couch, crossing her legs to get comfortable. She watched as they started the game up, chose their avatars, and went on to play.

In short, Hot Rod kicked Mirage in the ass. Like, hard. Hot Rod won about fifteen matches, and Mirage won two. She could see the frustration planting itself on Mirage's face, and felt really bad.

She watched Mirage's part of the screen in an attempt to help him, but about ten minutes into looking, something in her head seemed to click.

"Mirage, enemy's in your right corner. Approximately fifty feet away, ducking behind that pillar. Use the building to your left, duck and roll. There's a Sniper Rifle in the corner, use the window to pinpoint his exact location. He's not wearing any sufficient head armor to help him withstand a shot like that, use the rifle to take him out. He'll either be forced to camp out behind the tree, where a grenade can flush him out, or enter open ground where he's exposed." she said suddenly, then her optics widened.

Where had _**that**_ come from. And why was it so easy for her? Like riding a bike. She found it easy to analyze his surroundings, and the potential outcomes on how he could win, then go with the most likely one.

The screen on the TV suddenly moved to the pause screen, and she knew they were looking at her.

"What?" she heard Hot Rod asked, and she blushed, bringing her legs up and hiding her face in her knees.

Suddenly, the springs of the two seater to her right groaned in relief as it was obviously relieved from weight, and she felt a servo on her knee. She peeked out a little, seeing the color change of her visor on her armor.

"Laceburner, how did you do that" the accented voice asked, and she knew it was Mirage.

"I-I-I-I don't know." she stuttered, embarrassed.

"Laceburner, this is serious. How did you do that so quickly?" he asked.

"Prowl's on his way." Hot Rod said, and Laceburner felt something wet collect in the ridged of her optics, and something dribbled on to her face plates.

"Hey." Mirage said softly, lifting his servo and placing it on her head. When he brought his hand back, there was what looked like Energon on his thumb. "You don't need to cry, okay? We aren't mad. We just want to know how you did that. If you're any good at this stuff, you might be able to help Prowl, and maybe even us on the battlefield." he tried to comfort her. "You don't have to be scared."

She registered his words, and she was listening, but they didn't help. How had she done that? Where did it come from? What the hell?

 _ **How do you not remember doing that back home?**_ the voice asked, but all that did was make things worse.

"I'm here, what happened?" a voice asked, and she looked past Mirage to see the black and white mech, alongside Optimus Prime, Ratchet and Jazz.

"Here, watch." Hot Rod said, inserting something into a projector, and the video played.

The four newcomers watched without blinking, and Laceburner turned her head away in order to not see their reaction. She felt an arm wrap around her shoulders as the weight on the couch shifted and Mirage got on the couch beside her.

"Laceburner." a deep voice said softly, and she saw Jazz sit beside her. "This is by no means out of anger, frustration or anything beyond pure curiosity. How did ya do that?" he asked.

She whimpered a little, something that her vocal processor did before she had to chance to stop it, and sunk further into the red arms around her.

"She doesn't know, Jazz.." Mirage said for her.

"Ya don't have a single clue? Not even... a left over feelin' or sense? Maybe a picture in yer head, or a name?" he asked.

She shook her own head. Nothing besides that stupid voice.

 _ **I can hear you, you know that right?**_

Should she tell them about the voice? Maybe they'd be able to help her.

 _ **No. They don't need to know. They wouldn't care either. None of them actually care. We, we're just another body in their stupid little war for them to toss in front of the oncoming bullets.**_ the voice hissed in anger.

She shivered.

"N-No. No, I-I-I don't know how I did it-t." she stuttered.

"Hey guys, what's - what happened?" She looked up to see Sideswipe enter the room.

"Sideswipe, should you not be in the brig where I left you and your twin?" Prowl asked.

"Nope. First Aid said the timer went off, and let us out." the red mech smiled.

The golden mech grunted as he walked into the room. "Oh Primus, who did what?" he asked, and she watched him tense when his optics landed on her.

"Watch the video, you'll find out. If it isn't already obvious enough with the massive projector on." Hot Rod said snidely.

Sunstreaker suddenly grabbed him by his chest armor. "You speak to me like that again and I'll make sure to shove my hand so far down your aft that it attaches to your processor and pulls out your neuro sensors just in time for you to not feel me tear your spark out, you two bit, half-processored fragface." he threatened, letting him go.

"Sunstreaker!" Prowl said in a warning.

"What happened?" he asked.

"We were playing our game, and I was losing horribly-"

"No surprise, continue." Sideswipe said.

Mirage gave him a look, but continued. "Anyway, Laceburner was just sitting on the couch quietly the entire time until she.. well, watch the video." he said.

Sunstreaker hit the play button, and the two, along with Prowl, Jazz, Ratchet and Optimus -who were probably re-analyzing it to see if they missed something - turned their heads to watch the video.

"Whoa." Sideswipe said when the video ended.

"It must be an instinct or something from before she lost 'er memory." Jazz said.

"Jazz, she's seventeen aon cycles. For a Cybertronian to pick up a habit or have an instinct stick with them through their entire life, even past her data banks being emptied, she would've had to start doing this when she was around nine or ten aon cycles." Ratchet explained.

"Yeah, and?"

"You really think she was doing that stuff when she wasn't even a teen?" Sunstreaker asked.

"What were you and Sides doing at that age?" he asked rhetorically, and Sunstreaker huffed, crossing his arms.

 _ **Ooh, what were they doing?**_ the voice pondered. _**Probably mech-hoes.**_

Laceburner purposely glitched her visor red in frustration.

Frustration at her voice. Frustration at that stupid dream that hadn't left her head yet. At her situation, and her seemingly endless amnesia. At her life at the current moment.

 _ **Better get used to it, suck it up and get past it. It isn't a fatal wound, and even if it was, you aren't dead yet. Deal with it.**_ the voice said.

Yeah, and how exactly was she meant to deal with it? She couldn't remember anything at all, but apparently she had her instincts from a past she couldn't remember, no matter how desperately she wanted to.

 _ **You deal with it in the exact same manner as how you tried to help Mirage. You look at the facts, analyze the scenario, your surroundings, then come up with possibilities, and what do you after that?**_ the voice asked.

She froze; the voice was giving her advice now? Two seconds ago, it was hating her.

 _ **Yeah, well we're stuck together for the foreseeable future. Might as well get along, right? Now answer my question kid.**_

She thought back to the question. After she came up with all the possibilities for Mirage to win, what was her next step?

 _Choose to most likely course of action to win._

 _ **Exactly. Now stop moping and figure everything out before I kill you trying to claw out of us.**_

That sounded so weird; she almost smiled.

Almost.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

 **Yay! I hope you all enjoyed this! Have a good one everybody!**


	5. Chapter 5

**UPDATE! Hooray! I love you all so much! I gave y'all another teaser ;) As well...**

 **WE'VE GOT A FACEBOOK PAGE NOW! I've just finished RW's Facebook page, and you can believe me when I tell you that I'll be posting teasers on there too! I swear I will be! Especially about future characters ;) The link is in my bio, just click my name and you'll see it! Anyways, I spellchecked this baby and everything for you! I have four classes this year which means a shit load of homework, but I'm going to do my best to update both RW and LD as often as I can! I sincerely hope you people enjoy this! I know I loved writing it! **

**Don't forget to vote on my poll, check out our new FB page and last but not least, review! It helps me know what YOU guys want in this story a little!**

 _ ****As well, I'm considering taking this story -Remembering What? - down and putting the other one I was debating up because you guys don't seem to be liking this one :/. I don't know, do you guys not like this story? Be cruelly honest, because if the majority of you don't I will be taking this down.****_

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

If you have not read the underlined text above, please do so. Thank you.

Sunstreaker had just gotten back from patrol, and had full intentions on going to recharge - whoever thought he should be on night shift, from eight to three needed serious mental help - when the sound of the TV from behind the private rec room's closed doors caught his attention. Since when were bots awake at three? Since when did they close the small rec room doors?

He opened the door and looked inside, a small smile gracing his faceplates. Laceburner laid on the couch, a cover pulled up to her shoulders. She had obviously been watching TV and fell into an unpredicted recharge. The glow of the TV light made her splotchy blue paint look ten times brighter as the scene changed on the screen. Her optics flickered underneath their lids.

It had been about six months since she'd shown up; she still didn't remember anything, and Ratchet backed up her claim, saying that his scans proved her data banks held no memories from before they found her. She'd also grown close to the two of them. It seemed as if when she wasn't in training with Prowl or watching bots play video games in the rec room, she was with them. Sunstreaker had to admit, while it was normally annoying when somebody tagged along him and his brother, he didn't mind Laceburner's presence. She was quiet and respected their space, and wasn't with them twenty four seven. Her shyness hadn't worn off yet, so she was still fairly silent unless they spoke directly to her. It wasn't that he liked the fact that she never spoke, but back home whenever he and Sides hung around with femmes, they always tried to be dominant and rule over them. He detested when they did that.

Laceburner didn't do that though. If she did tell them something, it was quietly and more of an informative tip than it was an order to help them. Whenever she had a panic attack, they always seemed to show up, and Sideswipe seemed to have this nack for calming her down and getting her to breathe. Her visor still glitched all the time, but it didn't bother him nearly as much as it did at first. They still had yet to see her actual optics, and so far the only one she'd apparently shown her optics to was Ratchet. Sideswipe was starting to complain that he wanted to be one of the bots who got to see her optics too.

He strut over and picked up the remote from underneath her servo, turning around to shut the screen off. She moved her head to face him, and took a giant sigh, a cloud of grey smoke puffing from her exhausts, and the cloud puffed into the air very gently, then disappeared. He crouched down and slipped his arms underneath her to pick her up. Part of him was astounded with how little she weighed, but because of her height it didn't surprise him for that long. He pulled her closer after she sighed again, and let the cover she had on before fall to the couch, then exited the room and the door stayed open behind him.

She mumbled and turned her head into his chest, and her servos twitched on her abdomen as she groaned a little.

"Easy Laceburner. I'm just taking you to your berthroom." he said lowly.

She stopped moving again and he passed his and Sideswipe's berthroom, and stopped at hers. He pushed it open lightly with his ped, and closed it behind himself. When he turned around, he froze.

In a dark black, gorgeous, Cybertronian writing were different quotes from both Earth and Cybertron; famous bots from before the war and humans who had passed and left their legacy. Underneath the last word of each quote were to two letters L and B. _**L**_ ace _ **b**_ urner. She made those. But how had she made those if she couldn't even **remember** where she came from?

Waving it off from the fact that it was three in the morning and he was tired, he slipped her onto the bed, and pulled the cover over her shoulders. Her breathing remained the same, so he turned to walk out but something grabbed his servo and tugged him back a little in a weak attempt.

A bright blue servo grasped at his wrist, her digits twitching when he tried to pull away.

"Laceburner." he said lowly.

Her visor activated a tiny bit, then turned off; she made a whining sound, dropping his wrist and curled herself into a fetal position. Frag it, now she looked sad. He sighed; he needed to go to his berthroom, but it seemed as if Laceburner - subconsciously - wanted him close.

He huffed, slipping his arms back under her. She mumbled again as he walked out of her room and into his. The door creaked when it opened, waking up Sideswipe.

"Mm, Sunny?" he grumbled

"Get up, push your bed over to mine." Sunstreaker grunted

"Why?" Sideswipe inquired in an extremely sleepy voice, not moving from his spot on his berth.

"Laceburner doesn't want to sleep in her room." Sunstreaker said, pushing his berth to the middle of the room with his leg.

Sideswipe groaned "Lacey's here?"

"Yeah, I'm holding her right now, now get your aft up and push your bed this way." Sunstreaker maintained.

Sideswipe got up and pushed his berth over to Sunny's, and laid back down.

Sunny placed the sleeping femme on the berth gently, and other than a huff, she didn't make any movements, so he slipped under the covers.

He watched her for a few seconds, fully expecting her to turn over and cling to Sideswipe, who would probably wrap his arms around her. Every time that Laceburner and Sideswipe seemed to fall into recharge in close proximity, it always ended with her being wrapped in his arms like a burrito. She was still extremely shy and hesitant, but you wouldn't guess that from watching her recharge. The twin just seemed to have that effect on femmes, whether he was in recharge or not. Instead, however, she reached for _him_ ; she wrapped her legs around his waist, bringing his hips to hers, and placed her helm on his chest, between his two pectoral muscles. She took a large sigh in, and let her frame melt against his.

After a second, he wrapped his arms around her, letting his helm fall into the pillow.

Sideswipe, seeing as he had been sleeping not too long ago, had already turned over and was recharging again, but Laceburner still had her legs drawn up around his sides, and her pelvis was still pressed against his, and he had to stop and take deep breaths. It wasn't so much that they were close together. They'd been close before, a lot of times when she was frightened by something and happened to bump into him, then she'd freeze, leaving her frame pressed up against his, obviously unintentionally. It was that her armor was fairly thin and he could feel the protoform underneath her armor.

And what he would **learn** tonight is that Laceburner had a tendency to move and wiggle in her recharge, especially when she dreamt.

Oh dear Primus, this was going to be a long night for him.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Laceburner sat on a stool in a busy, crowded bar. Multiple different bots that she didn't know stood, sat, danced and talked together around her, while she held one of her two shots of High Grade; very rarely did she get to have High Grade without being scolded and punished for it, so she took it when she could. What could she say? It was delicious. She wore much less armor than normal, but enough that it wasn't so provocative to allure someone; she couldn't do that tonight. She was busy.

She looked around the building, catching the optic of a tall, dark grey mech who smirked and blew kiss in her direction.

She rolled her optics; Iaconian perverts.

Along the dance floor, among the countless overcharged dancing bots, was an average sized mech, with white paint, adorned with various tattoos that meant a bunch of pointless sayings in Cybertronian. He was surrounded by femmes - the inexperienced pleasure femmes; ones who were doing their best to keep up with the well known, experienced femmes who wouldn't waste their time over here, knowing they wouldn't get a night's actual worth of credits with these cheap idiots.

A dark red colored mech, not much larger than him, came up and whispered something in his audio. He nodded, and the red mech nodded once then turned and left.

Laceburner downed one of her Energon shots, feeling the High Grade burn down her throat.

They had very few options here. There was only one back door that led to an alleyway. The alley was lit very dimly, only by one light that flickered if you hit the wall too hard. It was narrow, and could be hard for large built mechs to fight in. Pipelines could bust and whatever was in them could be toxic, but that might not work out in her favor. With that scenario, he could get away.

Then again, they could always tumble through the only other door in the alley. It led into the kitchen, which was closed by now. The sounds of fighting would probably be drowned out by the music, but there was also a lot of tool that could be used against you or for you. Again, here he could climb through a window or out into the crowd, have them scatter and there he goes. A pointless outing.

There was always the upstairs. If they waited long enough, the mech would undoubtedly end up upstairs with a few of those low scale skanks. He'd have a gun on him - the same gun she could see hiding under his left leg armor, but it would take him a few nano-kliks to get it out, cocked and ready to shoot. There would be one mech in front of his bedroom's door, to be the first line of defense. There would be another mech downstairs, sitting in a booth. He'd be the one to inform the other mech of anybot who started going up the stairs. He'd be not too far behind, and the second line of defense. The door would probably be locked, but this building was old and the locks would buckle under a mere five pounds of pressure, and the small, single barrel .25 Praxi Cut pistol he had hiding under his leg armor would be his last line of defense. He was inexperienced in shooting and would more likely than not miss. The weak bullets wouldn't be tough enough to pierce through armor.

They could always wait until tomorrow. He'd be tired and hungover, slow and probably in such in a good mood from the last minute frag those low level pleasure whores would have given him that morning. He'd have only one mech as a defense, but in the daylight, with no noise to distract from the inevitable loud struggle he'd make, including his yells for help, they'd easily be seen. And it was very clear; do not pull attention. If they got caught, it was over for them. The CELE would have not a car in the world for how bad he was if they caught one of them. They topped the wanted list, despite the CELE not having their faces or even their names.

Suddenly, one of the femmes stood up, grabbing his servo with a smile as another femme did the same with his other servo. He stood up with a smirk, as a third femme placed her servos on his back and trotted along. She watched as they disappeared around the bend of the stairs leading upstairs.

His body guards met by the bottom of the stairs. They exchanged words, before the black one nodded, heading up the stairs. The other one, the dark red, lingered at the stairs for a second, then she lost him in the crowd. She looked back at her shot, tossing her head back and letting the highly concentrated Energon burn down her throat. She motioned for the mech behind the bar to get her another two, which he did gladly.

The stool beside her was pulled back as the red colored body guard stood beside her. He looked at the bar tender.

"High Grade. One cube." he ordered. "80 percent concentrated.".

The bar tender nodded and headed into the back to grab his order.

"Easy there, Hoss. You planning on not remembering tonight?" she joked.

He looked down at her briefly, but didn't respond.

"Got a femme you're trying to forget?" she pressed on with a smile.

He didn't respond. She pressed on, eager to see how far he'd go.

"Need help forgetting her?" she asked flirtatiously.

Finally, he turned his helm to face her. "How old are you?"

She smirked; apparently he didn't like to go very far.

"Old enough to be fragged legally. Young enough to brag about it." she smirked.

He furrowed his brow. "How overcharged are you?"

Her smirk got wider. "Sober enough to know exactly what I'm doing. Too drunk to care."

 _{:: 'Burner..::}_ Ripple's voice boomed over the private comm link in warning.

She rolled her optics. "But sober enough to realize I could get more experienced for a better deal."

This time he growled lustfully, but the bar tender came back with his cube of Energon.

"On your tab?" he presumed. The body guard nodded.

Just before he left, he slipped a large, muscled arm around her torso and his servo rested high up along her thigh, tilted towards the inside of her leg slightly. Almost too close for comfort, but not quite. "You won't get more experienced than this." he growled quietly in her audio.

She smirked, picking up one of her shots of High Grade and pouring it into his drink, angry at herself that she hadn't spiked it before. "Only if you say so."

She felt him release her, taking his arm back and heard him turn and leave. She watched him move through the crowd, before sitting at the farthest booth through the reflection of the High Grade concentrator.

 _{:: So... scenario 3?::}_ Rustbreak asked.

Laceburner tilted her head back and downed her last shot. She stacked them together, and left twenty credits for the bar tender, nodding at him after their optics met.

She got off the stool, and turned to walk out, noticing Goldchief, Rustbreak and Ripple sitting in a booth by the door, where she'd left them.

 _{:: Yeah, scenario 3.::}_ she confirmed.

As she passed them, her servo reached up and squeezed the muscle on Goldchief's right arm, and he flexed for her eagerly like the flirt that he was, as usual and she smirked with a wink from her right optic. She was right servoed, but winked with her **left** optic normally. Right optic was a signal. Go.

She pushed the door open and left the club, letting it close behind her as she heard the three mechs standing up behind her.

 _ **Hey. You gonna get up?**_

She looked behind her, scared. The club had disappeared and was instead replaced with a red wall. She gasped, opening her mouth to scream, but nothing came out.

 _ **You there? Wake up.**_

She looked back in front of her, where buildings had been in front of her was instead replaced with a bright yellow wall.

She closed her eyes, praying when they opened again she wouldn't remember anything

 _ **For Primus's fragging sake,**_ _ **get up**_ _ **!**_

She opened her optics to see a golden colored wall again - no, wrong that was a chest. She lay in between Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, both sleeping. This wasn't the first time she'd woken up around them, but it was the first time she'd woken up.. between them. Or touching them.

 _ **Good. You're up.**_

She groaned; _why?_

 _ **Because. I was awake and bored.**_

She took a large breath in, keeping her cool in an attempt to not let the optics well up in her eyes. This wasn't the first time she'd woken up like that. Not even close to it, but it still got to her, and scared her all the time. She was thankful though, because the voice _always_ managed to wake her up. It was more like she was watching a really old DVD through a key hole - only seeing a certain little bit of film and that was it, sometimes without audio that would occasionally skip from one time frame to another.

 _ **Come on, talk. I'm bored and woke you up for a reason.**_

She groaned, letting her head fall back on the pillow before she realized it was Sunstreaker's arm, who had his bicep flexed slightly from the position he had it in. She groaned, wanting to just fall back asleep.

 _ **No, talk.**_

With an eye roll, she gave in to the premise of not going back to sleep for a little while.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

It had been six months. Six months since Skids and Mudflap had found Laceburner. Six months of her not knowing anything. Six months of them pondering in secret **where** she could have possibly gone to and come from. Six months of listening to and hearing her voice. Thankfully, it had gotten better. The voice wasn't nearly as rude as before. Yeah, it definitely still mocked her sometimes, and often teased her about the fact that she was stuck with it in her head, but it often helped her with things to.

 _ **Of course I do, I'm great.**_

There it was again, of course. It couldn't let a comment like that go, it was so vain and full of itself. Somewhat like Sunstreaker. Whom she had grown close to. Both he and Sideswipe had become mechs who Laceburner felt close to. They always seemed to be there for her whenever she needed it, and both of them - especially Sunstreaker - were super easy for Lacey to be around, mostly because they didn't ask her questions that she didn't know how to answer. And every time she had a panic attack or a meltdown, Sideswipe just always seemed to be there and calm her down. She just... like being around them. She never meant to, but she was always just... looking for them; she was almost more comfortable around them than she was with the femme Moonracer and the medic, Ratchet.

 _ **Yeah, why?**_

Laceburner rolled her eyes, and there was a chuff beside her as Grimlock - who sat in his bot form, not his dinosaur form - moved to lay down on the sand they sat on, watching as Swoop and Strafe flew overhead, yelling at each other as the rest of them rolled around in the water, playing together. Grimlock and Snarl had opted out of swimming, and instead decided to sit with Laceburner on the sand.

She'd grown close to the Dinobots too, which the voice definitely liked.

 _ **They're large. Can protect us if we need it. They're a good option.**_

She still didn't know where the voice got that information, since the Autobots on the base seemed to be strong believers that they caused more problems than they fixed, but it was insistent.

 _{::Laceburner, where are you?::}_ a voice asked over the private comm links, and she jumped a tiny bit, earning a grunt from a sleeping Snarl, whom she was propped up against.

 _{::Outside.::}_

 _{::I figured that. Can you come to the Medical Bay please?::}_ It took her a second to recognize Ratchet's voice.

 _{::Oh...o-okay. Coming.::}_

She stood up, cutting the line off. Snarl grunted again, this time louder, and she smiled, placing a hand on his head for a second.

"I'll be back later. They're calling for me."

She headed to the Med Bay, managing to slip past everybody in order to avoid being spoken to. Ever since she'd ending up "helping" Mirage during that stupid video game, Prowl always seemed to want to try different training techniques to see how far her skills extended. So far, she managed to keep up with everything he'd put her through.

Ratchet stood in his Med Bay, looking through his supplies for something; the mech must have had a keen sense of hearing, however, because when she closed the door behind her quietly, as not to bother him too much, he looked up at her.

"Good day Laceburner. Glad you came." he said with a smile.

She offered him a tight, closed smile in return and shifted her weight uneasily.

"You have no need to worry Laceburner. I only called you in for a routine physical. Just to make sure everything in your frame is running the way it should be." he said in an attempt to calm her down. "I'd like to check up on your bad leg as well. The one that was detached when you came."

She blinked for a second, waiting for the voice to give her any input.

 _ **I don't know. I mean, he is a**_ _ **medic**_ _ **so that might be his intention, or maybe it isn't. Not sure what to tell ya. Just be careful.**_

She sighed; how helpful.

 _ **I try.**_

She held back an eye roll and nodded with a slight gulp. "O-O-Okay."

He smiled. "Would it comfort you to have Moonracer in here along with me?"

She nodded quickly, and he gave her a smile. "Alright, I'll comm her in."

His eyes dimmed slightly for about two seconds before he seemed to look back at her. "She's on her way. I'm gonna set up everything while she comes." he explained as he turned and grabbed something.

About a minute later, the small femme walked in and looked over at the light blue painted femme - her paint was starting to chip so badly that Moonracer wondered how Sunstreaker could even stand to look at her without grimacing. It was like Laceburner had small splotches of blue on her more than anything. A blue and gray spotted Dalmatian-bot.

"Hey Lacey." she smiled. "Heard you're goin' through your physical. How have you been, haven't seen you in a few days? You been making friends?" she asked in a smile as she sat down next to her on the bed.

Ratchet walked over and crouched in front of her and started, and Laceburner tensed a little but nodded at Moonracer.

"Um.. yeah. Yeah, friends." she mumbled.

"I know Prowl's been keeping you busy with training for a little while too. Who's your new friends?" the little green femme asked. "Well, besides the Dinobots. I know you're close with those mechs."

Laceburner felt her cheeks get warm a little for some reason. "Um.. yeah, I like them. I-I'm.." she trailed off for a second. " **Friends** with, uh.. Sideswipe and Sun-Sunstreaker." she used the word oddly, as if it was foreign to her.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang that sounded throughout the room, and Ratchet groaned as he grabbed his head, causing Moonracer and Laceburner to jump.

"Ooh, you okay sweetspark?" Moonracer asked.

"The twins? It had to be the twins?" Ratchet grumbled, but waved it off. "I'm fine. Just.. be careful with them Laceburner. And don't get roped into helping them with their pranks."

 _ **See? Told you.**_

Laceburner tilted her head. "P-Pranks?"

Moonracer laughed. "That's what they're known for. Well, that and Jet Judo, but they don't do that here of course."

"Oh." she said, looking down.

Ratchet leaned back down in front of her.

"What's up with her leg?" Moonracer asked.

"Faulty wiring. Nothng serious, just something I must have not have put back in place when she first came. Looks like something used to be lodged in there." he explained as he worked.

 _ **Be careful.**_ the voice pitched in.

Laceburner tensed up again, watching his movements out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to sense her tenseness - either that or he finished whatever he was doing - because he stepped back. When he stood back in front of her, he held a weird thing in his hand.

"This is a scanner. It shows me how everything in your frame is working, and what I need to alter or fix. It will feel like a tingle running through your systems, but it won't hurt." he promised.

She nodded, and it whirred as he turned it on. When he pointed it towards her, it was almost as if the voice stood up and got larger.

 _ **Run.**_

She furrowed her brow; _why? He won't hurt me._

 _ **Get out of the room. Now.**_

"What's wrong?" Moonracer asked.

 _What's wrong with that thing?_

There was no response. The voice stayed quiet, almost as if it disappeared and hid behind something in her head.

She felt the tingle run through her entire frame and it was almost as if the voice locked itself in a room to hide. Ratchet furrowed his brow in confusion for a second.

"What's wrong?" Moonracer asked.

"Nothing. I think it malfunctioned for a second." he waved off, then she felt another tingle. Ratchet nodded. "Yeah it just malfunctioned."

The voice didn't come back, as if hiding and angry at her for not listening to it. It stayed away for the rest of Ratchet's exam. Even after Moonracer left after being called into the training room. Ratchet ended up kissing her goodbye and Moonracer waved her departure to Laceburner, who returned the gesture.

Once she was certain Moonracer was gone, Laceburner bit the inside of her cheek. She was gonna tell him.

"U-U-Um... Ratchet?" she called out.

The green mech turned towards her. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"No-o, um... I just was wonder-ing if i-it-it's normal for bots to hear.. voices?" she asked nervously.

He furrowed his brow. "Voices? No, not unless you mean your own constructive voice."

She shook her head. "N-No, she sounds different than I do a-a-and..." she trailed off.

"And?" he asked.

"She used to be re-really rude but, um.. she's much nicer n-now. She helps me alot t-oo.".

He furrowed his brow and looked back at his scanner. "Is he-"

"-She" Laceburner cut in.

"Is she talking to you now?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, she's kind of.. hiding right now. Once you brought the scanner out she told me t-o run off."

He looked over his results again for a second, then looked back up at her.

"Do you remember the very first training session we had you in? Where you told me you blanked out and couldn't remember injuring Jazz? Was **she** talking to you then?" he asked her.

She blushed heavily and ducked her head to avoid eye contact with him, and stuttered nonsensically.

"Laceburner, we hold no grudges against you for it. I promise you I will not inform anybody else of this information but it will help draw a conclusion as to what she could possibly be." he informed her.

She blushed while keeping her eye contact away from Ratchet. "She told me to get out of the way and then I blacked out. After that she didn't talk to me. She taunted me for a little while and used to be more of a nuissance than anything. But now she's more like an over cautious someone who helps me when something is dangerous or potentially dangerous." she answered.

"Like a big sister?" Ratchet asked.

"No. Not really, I mean. More like an ex-bully trying to break out of her habit, who's stuck in my head and doesn't want me to hurt myself because she'll get hurt too." Laceburner explained.

He hummed. "What does she think of you telling me this?"

Laceburner blushed again. "She-um- doesn't.. know I'm telling you this. She wouldn't let me if she wasn't hiding right now."

He furrowed his brow again as he pulled a stool over and sat in front of her. "Why not?"

Laceburner stayed quiet for a about five seconds. "She.. um, she - likes to tell me that you guys would kill me if I told you. Likes to say I'm just another body you guys would throw in front of the cross fire, especially once you knew I was.. a freak with a voice in my head." she said the last sentence in slight embarrassment.

He hummed. "You still don't remember _anything_ at **all?** Not even the slightest of clues?" he asked.

She shook her, choosing to not tell him too much all at once. It would be easier to lie about all the nightmares she'd had so far. She wouldn't burden him with those nightmares and the pacifistic thoughts that inevitably followed.

 ** _X-X-X-X-X-X-X_**

 **There you have it! I thoroughly hope you all enjoyed this sucker, it's OVER 5,000 words! Love you all, have a great day!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Here is the next update for everybody! Remember, our new Facebook page is up, I'll be posting updates (and spoilers ;) ) online, so go ahead and check it out! The link is in my bio, just click my name and you'll be taken to it! Don't forget, I have a poll up that I need you to vote on, I've also updated Long Distances, my Optimus Prime/OC that I've currently got in progress. I sincerely hope you all enjoy this chapter! Not as exciting as last time, but progress in Lacey and her comfortableness around everybody on base.**

 **Don't forget to review my beautifuls; tell me what you'd like to see, and if you enjoyed the chapter. It helps a lot.**

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Sideswipe normally woke up around eight in the morning, groaning and shoving his helm under his pillow in order to ignore Sunstreaker's yells at him, intent on sleeping for another klik or two. Then, he'd wake up, swearing and cussing his twin out before transitioning from his home language back to English after remembering they were on this dirt ridden planet. As much as he was the positive twin, he hated this planet. He'd pull himself out of his berth and into the shower. He'd allow himself twenty minutes to really wake up, then come out where Sunstreaker would be sitting on the couch, waiting for him.

This time was weird though. This time, a scream woke him up. It wasn't until he shot out of bed, alongside his twin who activated his blades right away. Nothing in their room seemed off. The TV was still on, but mute - Sunstreaker's way of saying frag you to the stupid government on this planet - while the couch hadn't moved. All lights were off, the door was still locked, nobot but them were in their room and everything was normal.

By now, the scream had stopped, and they couldn't hear anything anymore.

"What the frag was that?" Sideswipe asked.

Sunstreaker, keeping his blades out, walked over to the door. He opened it and made sure nobot was coming from the right, the left, then walked out and crept down the hall. Sideswipe followed just as he saw Ratchet walk past them and down the hall and into the room second to last of the hall. Sunstreaker walked up just as the door closed. Laceburner's room.

"What?" Sideswipe asked, sliding his blades away as they both stopped in front of the door and listened.

"-she woke me up again before anything could happen."

That was Laceburner.

"She's invading your dreams now?"

It sounded like Ratchet who asked that question. There was a long pause of silence.

"Laceburner?"

They heard a light whimper before she responded. "Sh-She's been in my dreams since they started being..."

She trailed off, and they heard Ratchet sigh. They remained quiet, and Sideswipe almost furrowed his brow, wondering what they were doing when Sunstreaker furrowed his brow as well, leaning closer.

 _(~They're whispering. Ratchet must know there's somebody out here.~)_ the golden twin said over the sibling bond suddenly.

He suddenly slid his blades in and raised a clenched fist up to knock on the door.

About twenty seconds afterwards, the door opened and Ratchet stood there, with a little, blue spotted femme behind him.

"What?" he asked.

"What's wrong?" Sunstreaker asked.

"Nothing, move. Come Laceburner." he said, pushing past them.

Laceburner followed. "S'cuse me." she mumbled as she past them.

"Lacey, what's wrong?" Sides asked. "What happened?"

She looked up at him, her optics giving away the stress she was inevitably feeling right now.

"D-Don't worry." she waved off, turning to walk off.

Sideswipe watched with furrowed brows as she followed Ratchet down the hall, past the empty room and out of their view. Sideswipe had noticed ever since she woke up in their room, between them she'd been distancing herself a little. She still hung out with them whenever they were in the rec room, but she no longer seeked to be around them or went looking for them. She seemed to like being alone a lot, and was often out with the dinobots.

"What's wrong with you?" Sunstreaker asked when he noticed Sideswipe, who hadn't moved when he began walking back to their room.

Sideswipe furrowed his brow, but turned to follow him to his room. "Nothing. That was weird."

"You're telling me." Sunstreaker groaned as he walked into his room.

Sideswipe let himself collapse onto his berth with a groan. What had that whole thing with Laceburner been?

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Laceburner hadn't left the Med Bay in a week and a half. After she woke up from the nightmare that night, she and Ratchet made it back to the Med Bay before she let a tear fall down her cheek. She didn't know why she started crying because she had never cried after a nightmare before, which confused her. And when she was confused, she cried more.

Once Ratchet noticed her tears, he ran a scan on her. After that, he sat down on a stool in front of her and explained what her Decacycle was. Basically, the time during the "Aon cycle" where she was most likely to have a sparkling; it happened three to four times during an entire aon cycle. She wasn't sure what an aon cycle or a sparkling was, but he explained to her that **that** was what was causing her to cry. He said that about ninety percent of femmes back on their home planet got moods such as anger and craved something he called interface. She wasn't sure what "interface" was, but she knew whatever it was, she _wasn't_ craving it. According to Ratchet, only a small percent of femmes got mood swings that put them in a depressed state, and lucky for her, she was one of them. Apparently, it lasted two and a half weeks.

Thanks to this though, it meant that **everything** that didn't go right made her cry. And in her life, that meant she was crying for almost all day. Originally she'd gone back to her room, but after she didn't refuel in two days and almost went into emergency stasis because she was too busy crying, Ratchet had Ironhide bring her back to the Med Bay.

"Yo Hatchet!" a voice yelled as the mech entered the Medical Bay.

She turned over on the bed to look as Sideswipe walked into the Med Bay until she saw Ratchet hit Sideswipe on the head with a wrench.

Her bottom lip quivered. Poor Sideswipe. A tear fell.

"Ow." Sideswipe mumbled.

"Idiot." Sunstreaker grumbled.

Then Ratchet hit him on the head too.

"Ah, what did I do?" Sunstreaker asked.

Laceburner felt the tears stream down her face, and she turned over quickly with a whimper as she shut her eyes. Sunstreaker didn't do anything either. She didn't hear Ratchet respond, but it was too late; she was about to start sobbing. Ratchet sighed, but left their side and went over to whatever he was doing.

She wrapped her arms around her blanket as her shoulders shook, trying to stop the sobs from coming out so that she didn't distract Ratchet from what he was doing.

"Lacey, what's wrong?" Sideswipe asked.

She closed her eyes temporarily.

 _ **He's right behind you, isn't he?**_

There it was. The voice had been quiet for a while, and she noticed that it stayed quiet during this time, and that it got angry. Of course, she told Ratchet that. Unluckily for her, Ratchet had found out that she was having multiple nightmares, but she refused to tell him what they were about. He did know that the voice was invading her nightmares though. He had asked her what the nightmares were about before, but she _**refused**_ to tell him; she didn't need the voice telling her to know that he would probably freak out about it.

"Lacey?"

She opened her tear filled eyes to see Sideswipe crouching in front of her. He smiled when they made eye contact.

"Hey little Lacey."

She furrowed her brow at the nickname he'd given her before. That same day that she woke up to realize she was trapped between the two of them while the three of them slept in their room on their bed. After that, Sideswipe seemed to be more.. open to her. Not that he wasn't open before, but he was definitely more comfortable with her.

The voice hated it.

 _ **'Course I do. We don't know who he is, where he comes from or what he wants. I'll kill him if he doesn't watch it.**_

She felt another tear roll down her cheek and closed her eyes again, pulling the blanket up over her head to cocoon her inside. He didn't deserve to die, but during this time the voice got angry - so angry that it was vicious.

"Sideswipe, please do not stress her out anymore than she already is. She's having a tough enough time as it is controlling herself." Ratchet said from where he was.

"What's happening?" he asked.

She heard metal clanging against metal, and there was hushed whispers before she heard Sideswipe again.

"Poor Lacey."

Another sob got caught in her throat, and she made a choking sound to hold it back.

"It's alright Laceburner, nothing's wrong. Everybody's healthy and happy." Ratchet said.

Over the past four days, both Moonracer and Ratchet had been saying stuff like that. She assumed it was to calm her nerves, ease her thoughts and help her stop crying, and while it did help her wildly creative mind who helped her come up with a million things that could be wrong, which fueled the crying, it didn't stop the emotions or tears. Those just kept coming and coming, no matter what she heard.

"Sideswipe, do not touch anything, or something will go off."

Just as he said that, something made one single beep. Soon after, there was the sound of metal banging against metal.

"I said do-"

Ratchet's last word was interrupted with a loud sob from Laceburner.

 _ **I wonder what he touched.**_

She choked back another sob. This sucked.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

"What about purple?"

Sunstreaker furrowed his brow, looking over at his twin. Laceburner sat in between him and Sideswipe on the couch in their room, playing with her hands as she watched the TV screen in front of them; it was obvious her mind wasn't in their conversation.

"She wouldn't look good in purple." Sunstreaker shook his head. "No bright colors. She already tried to blue, and while it wasn't awful, it didn't really flatter her."

Sideswipe nodded, looking back at the TV. "Dark colors then." he mumbled.

"No slag." Sunstreaker commented, going back to rubbing the wax into his armor with the old rag.

After her Decacycle ended a few weeks ago, she went back to hanging with them often. After about a week, Sunstreaker started commenting on her paint job - her _lack_ of a paint job. The bright blue paint had officially worn off completely, leaving her with nothing more than the natural, dull gray color of her armor. She didn't seem to mind at all, but she was hanging around with Sunstreaker at least four times a week - and he minded it. He managed to finally convince her to let him paint her. She was extremely hesitant, and Sunstreaker could see the fear fill her optics the first time he asked, but after a few days for her to think it over, she agreed. The only problem was that she didn't know what color she wanted. Sideswipe was throwing different colors her way, but she either didn't like them or they wouldn't make her look good.

"What about black?" Sideswipe asked suddenly.

Sunstreaker hummed. "That could be nice."

Sideswipe smirked, proud. "Lacey. Lacey!"

Laceburner quite literally jumped out of fear, then looked up at him. "P-Pardon?"

Sunstreaker chuckled, and she glanced at him out of the corner of her visor, which flashed green lightly. Sunstreaker had gotten used to the color flashes of her stupid visor, but he still sometimes tensed whenever her visor went red. Green and blue didn't bother him anymore though. Much to everybody's surprise though, her visor started glitching orange sometimes too. Sunstreaker could finally see why Ratchet hated Jazz's visor so much - they were a pain in the aft.

"What about black? You like that color?" Sideswipe asked.

She looked forward again, seeming to contemplate the decision before looking back up and nodding. Sideswipe smirked, her agreement of the color obviously inflating his ego, boosting his pride, or both.

"I'll order some paint, it'll be here in probably a week or so." Sunstreaker disclosed.

She nodded, and they went back to watching the TV, but Sunstreaker growled when he remembered his buffer was broken so he couldn't finish with his back.

"D-Do you need help?" the little voice beside them asked.

Sunstreaker looked down, confused to see Laceburner looking up at him with a curious expression.

"What?"

"Do yo-you, um, need help?" she asked.

He furrowed his brow for a second, then hovered his arm in front of her and handed her the rag. "Finish that little spot right there."

She gulped, a little confused, but scootched forward to the edge of her seat. She grabbed his wrist, pulling it to her chest so it was as close as possible to her. He watched as she folded the rag into a square before pressing it to his arm tenderly. At first he thought she'd fail his little test he was giving her to make sure she could wax properly, especially since she wasn't doing it properly yet, but once he noticed her biting the edge of her tongue he felt the additional pressure she pressed into his armor.

It took her about five minutes until she finished. When she did, she let go of his wrist and leaned back.

"Is that all you needed help with?" she asked.

He looked at his arm, the shine she rubbed into it, impressed with how well she did. She managed to not mess anything up and even did a fairly good job; his armor looked like perfectly cleaned, golden glass.

He hummed, then got up and grabbed a blanket from his closet. He grabbed another thing of wax, and moved back, placing the blanket in front of the couch. He opened and placed the new thing of wax beside him, then handed Laceburner the wax rag.

"Here." was all he said.

She nodded, and took the rag, getting on her knees behind him. She took some wax from the can and placed it on the rag, then rubbed it into the top of his shoulder armor. About ten minutes into it, when she just about finished both shoulders, he could feel the tenseness in his muscles relax. It was only when she accidently rubbed the actual protoform under his shoulder armor that he groaned, letting his head fall forward.

"Sorry." she mumbled.

He didn't respond with anything other than a grunt. He heard her move from being on her knees to sitting behind him and moved the rag down to his back.

It took her about an hour and a half before she finished. The three of them stayed silent, with nothing more than the TV Sideswipe was watching. He noticed that she enjoyed being around them much more often than before; she and Sideswipe often went for drives and sometimes he didn't even know she was there until she said something.

It was a nice change from how loud and busy the base was. He found himself comfortable around her in ways that he was with very few other bots - she never asked questions he didn't want to answer, she was quiet and didn't challenge him. A lot of the mechs around here seemed to enjoy pissing him off and challenging his skills. It always ended with him in the brig.

Which she often visited them when they were down there. The first time she came down, they didn't expect it. They didn't know she even knew where the brig **was**. Prowl had them locked in there for _five_ days. The scrappy part was he only supplied ten cubes of medium grade Energon; one for each of them on each day. Sideswipe always complained about the lack of high grade during this time. It was probably the second day down there when the door unexpectedly opened, and a blue, splotchy painted Laceburner walked down the stairs and over to the cell they were in. She didn't say anything, just pulled two high grade cubes from her subspace, slipped them between the bars and over to the two of them. After that she sat on the opposite side of the hall and fell into recharge. She only woke back up when Optimus came down, looking. He noticed the high grade cubes, which he _knew_ weren't supposed to be there, but only let a small chuckle and a small smile out before getting on one knee and shaking her awake lightly. Apparently, she'd fallen asleep and after she was an hour late for her training with Prowl, Optimus and Red Alert they began looking for her. They thought the first place she'd be was with the dinobots, but when they didn't have her, Ironhide said she was probably with them.

They saw her the next day with more high grade. Originally, Prowl had a strict no-visitors rule in place to avoid her sneaking them different Energon, but after she managed to sneak passed Mirage who was assigned to watch the door, he lifted it. At least this way they knew where she was, which was hard to do nowadays.

She had this tendency to disappear. The first few times, they panicked and were extremely worried. It was only after one of the jet fliers who that Captain Lennox deployed managed to see her with the dinobots by their little pond did they calm down. She still disappeared often, especially when he and Sideswipe were busy, but she always came back so they calmed down. Red Alert even suggested putting a tracker under her armor so that he could always know where she was; he was the wariest of her tendency to vanish, but even couldn't deny the fact that she _always_ seemed to come back.

"You do a good job Lace." Sideswipe said suddenly.

She looked up at him, and watched as his mouth gaped slightly. "Whoa."

Sunstreaker heard Sideswipe tell him to turn around quickly over the bond

"What?" Sunstreaker asked, sounding like he'd just gotten his first ever massage. He looked back as well. In the place of her visor was two optics, so lightly colored that they were a mix of blue and silver. They shone like one of the stars that they had passed on their way to Earth; baring the emotions that matched her expression. Like the humans said, a literal window to her soul. It was no wonder she hid them with her stupid visor, if she didn't they'd be able to read her like a data pad.

"Holy Princess." Sideswipe smirked.

She looked at him confusedly. "P-Pardon?"

"Laceburner, your visor." was all Sunstreaker said.

Her eyes widened and she gasped in surprise as she realized she'd retracted her visor while focusing on Sunstreaker's back, and completely forgot to put it back. Sunstreaker noticed her cheeks being dusted with blush as she covered her optics with her visor again, dropping the rag and standing up, looking away from them.

Sideswipe looked back at Sunstreaker with a massive grin and wide eyes. Sunstreaker rolled his optics as he stood up, feeling his muscles move with him in a relaxed manner that he hadn't felt since they first got out of the Pits, and some frag happy femme offered to massage them in return for a good time.

He walked over, stopping behind Laceburner and placed a servo on her shoulder. "Laceburner, it's okay don't worry."

He knew, from being around Jazz for so long, that when someone used their visor in a manner similar to a _'shield'_ for lack of better terms, removing their visor was a big leap that bots did very rarely, and only around bots that they trusted. Frag, even to this day Sunstreaker had never seen Jazz without his visor covering his optics, so he could infer that Laceburner hadn't meant to remove her visor and Sideswipe's stupid reaction didn't help. Then again, the majority of Sideswipe's reactions were stupid.

She took a deep, somewhat shaky breath in, and Sideswipe got up from his spot on the couch, walking over to rub her back.

"Hey, if you want we'll forget the whole thing happened, okay Little Lacey?" he asked.

Sunstreaker stepped back, instead turning around to clean up the blanket, tucking it, the rag and the can of wax away. When he looked back Sideswipe had managed to calm her down and get her back on the couch. She still looked a little shaken up, but for the most part she seemed to be okay.

He moved the table back in front of the couch, propping his peds up as he leaned forward and grabbing the remote to switch the channel again.

"I'm gonna go get Energon, want any?" Sideswipe asked, looking over at him.

He nodded, knowing that Sideswipe knew what to get for him.

"Princess, you want anything?" he asked.

The paint-barren little femme shook her head, so his twin got off the couch and left the room, leaving the door open. Laceburner seemed to calm down fairly quickly, and brought her peds up, pulling her knees to her chest.

Sideswipe hadn't come back in ten minutes and Sunstreaker looked over at the door; where the frag had he gone?

He glanced down at Laceburner for just a second before looking back at the TV, but then quickly looked back down at her. She had her legs drawn to her chest, her arms wrapped around her knees, and she was resting her head on her knees. She had all of her weight leaned against the back of the couch, and her visor was pitch black while her breathing was extremely deep and even. She was recharging.

He let the corners of his lip tip upwards in a very small grin, along with an amused nose exhale and went back to watching the TV, leaving her to recharge as he propped his arms up on the back of the couch.

Sideswipe came back after another twenty five minutes with two cubes of high grade in his servos.

"Where the slag were you?" he asked quietly

"Fragging Bluestreak doesn't know when to shut up." he complained, handing his older twin his cube of energon.

"Keep it quiet, fragface. Laceburner fell into recharge." he mumbled.

Sideswipe looked down from where he stood in front of the arm of the couch, with a smile on his face. He placed his cube of Energon on the table, then unfolded the femme. He laid her helm down on the arm of the couch as a pillow, and let her turn onto her side when she mumbled. Sunstreaker noticed as she clasped her hands together and brought them to her chest. Her legs stretched out, and he felt the bottom of her peds hit his thigh. She groaned in her recharge, obviously unhappy that she couldn't extend her legs because he was in the way, but bent her legs at the knees. Sideswipe chuckled as he came back, and placed his extra blanket from under his berth over her frame. She shifted a little, but didn't turn over and the blanket moved down to stop at her shoulders.

Sideswipe sat down on the floor, where the middle seat on the couch was and picked his Energon cube up as the TV kept going.

"She fell into recharge quickly." he noted.

"During training Smokescreen said he could hear her moving around all night last night. He doesn't think she recharged at all over the past few nights." Sunstreaker mentioned.

"Why the slag is Smoke li- oh yeah, his berthroom is right next to hers." Sideswipe started questioning but then cut himself off.

"Yeah. Arcee said she and Flare Up saw her with the dino idiots earlier this morning too. I don't think she's been recharging at all over the past week and a half." he proposed.

"Wonder why not." Sideswipe grumbled.

"Ask Hatchet if you really wanna know, maybe he'll have something about it." Sunstreaker shrugged.

Sideswipe shrugged as he looked back at the TV; maybe he did.

 ** _X-X-X-X-X-X-X_**

 **Hope you all enjoyed! Please don't forget to check out Long Distances: don't forget to review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**So here! Chapter 7! School's starting to get more stressful, so I may take a break from updating and writing, just to catch up and focus, but I promise I'll be back for you all because I love you all! My apologies for the lack of responses to reviews lately, like I said school's getting very stressful, so I'm trying to balance my time between the barn, school, and sadly you guys get left in the dust :/**

 **However, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please don't forget to review :) Have a good day!**

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

 _ **We look hot.**_

Laceburner had to agree; the black paint looked good. She wasn't entirely sure whether or not it would, but she looked almost as good as she did in those nightmares. Sunstreaker had gotten his black paint early, so he offered to do it earlier, and when he was finished, she had to say she was impressed with how good he was.

 _ **Oh please, he's not**_ _ **that**_ _ **good.**_

Laceburner didn't know what the voice had against the twins though. Everytime she asked, it never really elaborated on the subject. Just told her to be careful and would insult them a lot. Only them two, never anybot else. It didn't mind the rest of the mechs on the base, it preferred the femmes, but didn't mind when she was around Mirage, or any other mechs. It was wary of Optimus Prime, but only because of his size and power, in both his physical stature and his title as Prime. Laceburner didn't know what that meant, since she assumed that Optimus Prime was just his name, but the voice told her that the Prime part of his name was his title, not his designation. She had to cut the conversation off there before she got too confused. And of course, it **loved** the dinobots for a reason unknown to her. But Sideswipe and Sunstreaker? No. It detested them with a passion. It had gotten so bad that the voice seemed to completely disappear when she was around them. It was bittersweet, because that meant there was a lot of silence. But at the same time, it meant that the voice wasn't there to help her, and always seemed to bother her about it once they were away from them.

But she was starting to really notice the upsides to the voice; it helped with training a lot, especially with the more physical stuff like sharpshooting, which - with the help of Arcee - she'd gotten better at. It was like the theoretical second set of eyes on the back of her head.

"Hey Lacey."

She looked over at the door of the private rec room, which she went to more often than the actual rec room, to see Mirage and Hot Rod walking in.

"Hi." she smiled tightly, taking her legs off the coffee table so that Hot Rod could sit on the couch, before placing them back on the table, with Mirage plopping on the large recliner.

"What're we watching?" Hot Rod asked, placing his arms on the back of the couch.

"Some h-horror movie."

Hot Rod nodded, placing his feet up on the table. One of the characters in the movie screamed and something came up behind her, slicing her head off with a blade. The rest of the characters screamed and ran out of the room.

"Stupid humans." Mirage mumbled.

"What about us?" a small voice asked, and they looked over to see a group of humans walking in.

 _ **What are they doing here?**_

The voice always got a little uneasy around the humans, more because neither it nor Laceburner really knew.. what they were capable of, or what they were here for. And the lack of knowledge seemed to bother the voice to no end; it had to be informed in order to be comfortable.

"You humans are stupid in these movies." Mirage explained.

The human that had walked in laughed as he sat on a couch that was in front of the coffee table designated for the humans.

"You got that right." one of the other ones he was with laughed as he sat on the couch too. The other two humans walked up. One of them sat on the couch and one sat on the floor.

"Humans in horror movies are idiots. Like, if you hear a noise in the closet, don't fucking open the closet." the black haired one laughed.

Laceburner shifted, turning her torso and felt her back pop as the pressure released. She sighed and let herself slump back into the couch, feeling better.

"How the Pit did that feel good? Like, at all?" Mirage asked.

She blushed, looking down and a little embarrassed.

"I do it too." Hot Rod commented before he did the same thing, and heard the pressure in his spinal struts release in a pop.

Mirage shuddered with an _'ugh'_ , but pushed the recliner back.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

 _ ***(* Laceburner to the main hangar now, Laceburner to the main hangar**_ _ **now**_ _ **. *)***_

Laceburner groaned, not leaving her bed, and shaking her head in an attempt to not hear Prowl's voice ring through the public communications link. To her dismay, Prowl spoke back up again, before she was bombarded with messages and private comm links for her.

There was a knock on the door. "Laceburner! Get up and opened this Pit damned door or I will! Now!".

"One."

She groaned; she **just** fell asleep, like thirty minutes ago.

"Two!"

"No." she mumbled.

"Three!"

Nothing happened for a split second, then there was a loud, massive _crack_. Something grabbed her shoulders roughly.

She screamed, trying to push herself back and away from whatever grabbed her.

 _ **Move!**_

"Laceburner, it's me! Ironhide!"

With a gasp, she attempted to push herself away, but stopped when she locked optics with his from behind her visor. They stayed silent for a moment.

"Better?" he asked.

She gasped, nodding. She felt his grip tighten as he pulled her out of the bed and into a standing position.

 _ **Idiot, I told you to fragging move!**_

She took a shaky breath in, attempting to calm down.

"We need your help. Come." he said. She took a shaky breath in, noticing the reflection of the color blue in his armor which meant her visor glitched.

She followed him out of the room, and into the main hangar. Optimus Prime stood in the middle of the room, speaking with Prowl while the rest of the team stood around, fidgeting and seeming stressed.

"Prime!" Ironhide yelled, and the multi colored bot looked up.

"Laceburner! Thank you, Ironhide. Laceburner, are you aware of the dinobots whereabouts?" he asked.

She furrowed her brow and checked her internal chronometer. Almost three in the afternoon; they'd be having their nap around now.

She nodded.

"Can you please take us to them?" Optimus asked.

"U-Um..." she trailed off, but nodded.

 _ **Be careful. They might have them locked up and are leading you out to kill you.**_

She gulped, transforming down and landing on her four wheels. She heard one of the humans go "Oh, awesome." before her door was opened. The human designated _'USAF Chief Master Sergeant Robert Epps'_ slipped into her front seat.

"Oh my **God** , you have one hot ass alt mode." he mumbled.

He wiggled in his seat and if Laceburner had been standing she would've shown her disgust on her face - that felt so weird.

 _ ***(* Lead the way Laceburner. *)***_ she heard Ratchet's voice over the public comm link.

She revved her engine one last time, rolling her windows down and the human.. inside of her whooped as she suddenly took off quickly, her tires screaming from the friction and leaving the burn marks on the ground and the smell of rubber in the air before she bolted out of the base, slowing down almost immediately once she got out of the base so the others could catch up.

Prowl was right behind her, with Ratchet and Optimus Prime towards the back. The rest didn't follow, which she expected. She did know that Optimus had another three humans in his cabin though.

 _ **Watch the human. He messes something up and suddenly you can't move.**_

She watched him, checking to make sure he wasn't doing anything he shouldn't, which he didn't, until Laceburner pulled up to their napping place. A cave-like hole in the hill that separated one side of the island from the other. The first time they brought her here, she almost overheated from being outside all day so they brought her here around their nap time and all slept together. The human climbed out and she transformed up.

She heard doors being closed behind her before the three bots behind her stood up as well. She walked over, placing her hand on the stone wall and look inside.

"Grimmy?" she called.

There was a grunt and a snarl before a screech came from inside and suddenly Swoop flew out, his back legs grabbing her shoulders and pulling her into the air.

"Whoa!" she yelled, then laughed as he placed her on the ground in front of Optimus Prime, landing in front of her with a coo.

She giggled. "I missed you too. Haven't seen you guys in a few days." she said, petting his face before wrapping her arms around his neck.

Another roar came from the hole as Slug came charging out and jumped into the little pond in front of their little secret area. The water was so low that it barely past his ankles, but he still seemed to love it the most. He slid his tusks under the water before throwing his head back up and bringing all the water with him.

She watched the rest of them pile out before a roaring-like grunt came and Grimlock walked out. He stretched lightly, looking down at her. He opened his mouth in a yawn before roaring and she watched a little spit of fire escape into the air, disappearing quickly. He leaned down once he was finished, and she let go of Swoop - who took off into the air, messing up the humans' hair - to place her hands on his nose.

"Morning handsome." she smiled, and he huffed again with a rather long blink.

She let him go, turning to look at Optimus Prime, who had the slightest of slight smiles on his face.

"I did not realize how close you were to them." he answered her unasked question.

She shrugged. "T-They.. It's..." she trailed off, unable to answer his unasked question - why was she so comfortable around them?

"Do not worry, I understand. You feel safe around them; you feel understood. While everybot back at base is busy trying to figure out your origins and the mysteries surrounding your appearance, they do not. They do not ask you questions that you can not answer. All Grimlock cares for is that you do not hurt his mechs, and you go beyond that. As well, nobot really has an explanation their appearance here on Earth. The last contact we had with any of them was eons among eons ago, back when we all lived peacefully on our own planet, and how they came here is a mystery as well." Optimus Prime finished his sentence and just as he did Grimlock lifted his top lip and rubbed the side of his face against her body.

She giggled, wrapping her arms around his nose. "I-I-I guess." she answered with a smile. "Is everything okay with them?"

Optimus Prime nodded, but looked at Grimlock. "Ratchet would like to run his semiannual scan on you and your mechs to make sure everything remains alright with your systems."

Grimlock grunted, and lifted his lips again, this time letting a snarl loose. Obviously, none of them likes Ratchet's scans.

"Come on Grim. It'll make sure that your efforts to keep everybody healthy is paying off. And it won't hurt." Laceburner tried to convince him.

Grimlock snarled again, standing up at full height before transforming, parts and pieces folding until he stood in his bipedal mode. Then he started speaking a language she didn't understand. At first she thought it was gibberish but then Optimus Prime responded.

 _ **It's Cybertronian, dumbaft.**_ the voice explained.

 _Oh._ she thought, listening. It sounded so.. weird but it didn't sound foreign to her. It did spark the slightest of memories - sitting on a kitchen barstool, drinking Energon as she listened to bot behind her arguing in that language - but as soon as she started really thinking of the memory, it disappeared.

Suddenly, Grimlock huffed, standing up at full height and putting his hands on his hips with a grunt.

"We thank you for your co-operation." Optimus Prime said with a nod.

With a grunt, Grimlock looked down at her, then turned and walked off. She heard another screech as Slash ran up to her, his fingers twitching. He opened his mouth in a gurgle, lowering his head so she could kiss his cheek. There was a yell from Scorn and Laceburner looked over to see the spikey-backed bot calling for Slash to follow the whole herd. Slash made a coo, then blinked at her before turning and following the rest of them.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Laceburner stood at a red light in the city her engine revving as she sat on the white line in her alt mode. The only thing was she wasn't dreaming this time. She knew she wasn't dreaming; she could tell she wasn't. How did she get here?

She heard static from the communication links, but when she tried to access them it was almost like a block in the way; as if the comm links were a tunnel, and a massive pile of boulder collapsed in the middle of the tunnel, cutting both sides of from each. Just enough for static to make it through, but nothing more.

The light turned green, and the car behind her honked it's horn when she didn't move.

 _ **Go. We'll figure it out on the way.**_ the voice instructed in a calm tone, stopping Laceburner before she could have the nervous breakdown that was inevitably going to happen without it's help.

She jolted forward accidently, her engine revving dangerously.

 _ **Calm down. We'll figure it out. Just drive normally, like you do when you and the red twin go for a drive.**_

She accelerated slowly.

 _ **Take the next turn, then follow the red car onto the highway that way we can try and figure this out.**_

The mini map appeared in the bottom right corner, and the red car the voice told her to follow was marked. She turned, quickly catching sight of the red car and following it as it took an off ramp onto the highway.

 _ **Accelerate. Speed limit here is seventy miles per hour.**_

She sped up until she reached seventy three miles per hour.

 _ **Set your cruise control.**_

 _Cruise control?_ she asked.

 _ **Yeah. Normally the type of alt mode you have wouldn't have cruise control but all Cybertronians have their own cruise control. Set it.**_

Laceburner searched around her HUD until she found the cruise control option, and set it.

 _ **Good. Follow the red car even if it gets off the highway.**_

Laceburner would've furrowed her brow if she weren't in alt mode; why the red car.

 _Why?_ she asked.

 _ **Just trust me.**_

Laceburner followed the red car for about an hour and a half before it turned onto the off ramp and into town.

 _ **Turn left.**_ it said suddenly.

She would've furrowed her brow. _But the red car is turning right._

 _ **Trust me. Left. And activate your holoform.**_

 _My_ _what_ _?_

The voice went silent for a second before a screen popped up and she activated it. In her driver's seat, a women formed. She had bright, silvery blue eyes, and long, straight, blonde hair that cascaded down her back and over her shoulders and stopped beyond her tailbone. She wore a black baseball hat with the Autobot insignia, but it was turned backwards. She wore a white wife beater tank top and a pair of tight black jeans alongside tight boots. She had what looked like two lumps on her chest that were rather large compared to her size, and a silver chain around her neck, with an Autobot insignia on the end of the chain, but it was hiding in between the lumps, under her tank top.

 _Who is that?!_

 _ **It's you, idiot. Your holoform. Change your view.**_

She furrowed her brow, but blinked and all of the sudden she was looking through the point of the view of the human - her holoform. She reached up, grabbing the wheel.

 _This is weird._

 _ **No shit. Turn right. Follow it down until you reach the humans.**_

She did as she was told, although it was confusedly until she reached the group of humans. Like, a **massive** group of humans. Females, males, and tons of other cars. And they were all looking at her.

 _ **Get out of your alt mode with the holoform.**_

She did as she was instructed, not knowing what else to do. Besides, the voice seemed to know a fair amount more than she did.

She closed her door behind her, the and all of her senses were focused into the holoform. A bald man wearing a white tank top, with a fairly thick black moustache and olive colored skin walked up to her. "We've been expecting you." he winked before holding out his hand. She stared down at it.

"Come on baby, you gonna do this or not?" he asked with a smirk.

 _ **Right pocket in your pants. It's money - give it to him.**_

Laceburner reached down, pulling a large roll of green and white colored bills out of her pocket and place it in his hand.

"You must be pretty damn confident, chica. Good luck." he smirked, handing her a little black thing with a screen that showed a map.

 _ **Get back in your alt mode.**_

With a nod, she turned and opened her alt mode door, closing it behind her.

 _ **Download the map to your GPS.**_

 _How?_

 _ **Scan it.**_

She did as she was told, and the mini map in the corner of her HUD disappeared, instead being replaced with the one from the little black thing.

 _ **Line up where the other three are.**_

She looked ahead to see three other colored cars - red, black and white - lined up, their engines revving loudly.

 _What is this?_ she thought.

 _ **A street race. You need just a little more practice before you'll be able to out-maneuver everyone back on that base, and this will be it. Let go of your holoform and keep the windows rolled up and tinted. It'll be easier for you to concentrate.**_

 _Hold on, I'm racing these people?!_ she asked as the holoform disappeared from her front seat.

 _ **Yep. Gotta go, you need to focus and be able to do this without me. Focus!**_ it yelled before it was gone and she couldn't feel it anymore.

What? The? Hell?

A female human wearing a small strip of plaid over her legs and a white tank top that was two sizes too small for her walked out in front of them, alongside then same male from before.

 _Okay,_ _focus_ _Laceburner! Focus!_ she chanted in her head.

The female reach inside her shirt and pulled out a piece of fabric. Laceburner wasn't sure what it was, but the other cars revved their engines and a bunch of males whooped.

"The course will show up on your GPS. Good luck and may the fastest car win." the male said, before leaving the female's side.

"One." she heard the female say.

The red and white car revved their engines loudly.

"Two." she smiled.

Laceburner could hear all the hooting and hollering around them as the black car joined in on the revving to.

"Three."

The female dropped the piece of fabric and Laceburner, along with the other three cars, shot off their spot in the line. Laceburner took the lead. Behind her, about four feet away, was the black car. The other two were farther behind.

Laceburner shifted gears, pushing the pedal down more - enough to go faster but still keep control, pushing her further ahead. She took a corner quickly, letting her back wheels lock up and swish around the corner so that she was straight on the road before they kicked back in, pushing her forward, leaving the sounds of the screaming on lookers behind her.

Oh yeah, she'd definitely gotten better with her alt mode; she loved the feeling of the wind whipping over her hood and the sound of her tires screeching over the cement. She weaved through the cars that were stopped at a red light, and through a red light, hearing the sound of horns honking, but thankfully nobody got him. She turned down a back road, and around a curve then looked back at her minimap - she was on track.

The sound of engines behind her were distancing as she picked up speed, leaving the slowest car about three quarters of a mile behind her.

She spun her driving wheel around quickly, sliding around another corner, through a red light and onto another main road, weaving around and through the traffic as people honked and yelled out cuss words at her.

A very insistent human driving some kind of regular looking car slammed on his horn, and the echo of the sound resonated for multiple seconds. She took another turn, this one sharper than the others, and heard her wheels screeching, the smell of burnt rubber invading her senses. She drove down an alleyway and out the other side, driving against the traffic and weaving through the different cars. Horn honked like crazy, and she sped through two lights, then turned right and moved with the traffic.

By now, her radar wasn't picking up any of her opponents anymore, except for the black car that had been close to her at the beginning of the race, who was so far back that he was close to not being on her radar at all. She laughed, only allowed the sound to emit throughout the inside of her car - this was so much _fun_. All the streetlight blending together against the near pitch black night sky.

The finish line was coming up quickly, and when she extended her hearing she could hear the chatter of people waiting to see who the winner was.

She pushed her gas pedal down just a little more, and cut a car off turning down a different road, who cussed and honked at her.

She sped down the road, listening to the sound of her engine running, before speeding through a parking lot, through another road horizontally and another parking lot.

As she turned onto the last road - a dead end road with nothing more than a parking lot to an old warehouse at the end -, she could hear the people at the end whooping, screaming and cheering as she passed the barriers of the parking lot - the finish line -, slamming her brakes on. She drifted a little, stopping about a meter from the same man who had taken her money.

Activating her holoform, she grabbed the little GPS thing, disconnecting her minimap from it and getting out of the car.

The man smiled at her, holding his hand out. In a bag, her radar scan picked up copious amount of money, including the money she had given him. She handed him the GPS, taking the bag with her other hand.

"Congrats, baby. How about we share the cash and get out of here, huh?" he asked with a wink just as the black car - the one who had been in second place - slid to a stop past the finish line.

Before she could think it through, Laceburner let out a laugh. She turned around and back towards her alt mode. She opened the door with her human form, slipping inside the front seat just as the white car, who came in third, pulled in, followed by the red car.

She closed the door behind herself, and placed the bag of money in her passenger seat. She backed out, turning around and speeding out of the parking lot, down the road, and slowed onto the main road at a legal speed.

She let the holoform go for a while, driving down the road until she found a four story parking garage. She pulled in quickly, driving in the circular motion that the ramp moved in there until she reached the roof parking of the building, and pulled to a stop in the middle of the roof, listening to the buzz of the lights that illuminated her way, besides her bright LED headlights.

 _You there?_

It was silent in her head for a moment.

 _ **I'm here. Good job.**_

The holoform reappeared in the driver's seat, and she looked down at the bag of money.

"What do we do with it?" she asked aloud, knowing the voice could "hear" her.

 _ **What do you mean?**_

"I mean exactly what I said. What do I do with it? It's useless to me at base, isn't it?" she asked.

It stayed quiet, obviously not having an answer to that.

"Well?"

 _ **I don't know. Maybe you can hide it in your subspace until you know what to do with it.**_

 _O-Okay._

Laceburner left the bag there and her holoform looked out the windshield to see something white land on the perfectly clean glass. It was cold, small and melted into a liquid quickly, before others followed behind that one quickly.

She opened the door by herself, before the holoform climbed out, looking up at the sky.

One of the white things landed on her shoulder, then her nose. She crossed her eyes, then watched another one.

 _What is it?_

 _ **Snow. Snowflakes.**_

She watched as the crisp, cold flakes of snow fell down quickly from the sky.

 _It's pretty._

The voice stayed silent, and she basked in the silence, closing her eyes for a long time. It was peaceful, the quiet, beautiful kind of peaceful that she had only experienced once since waking up on that stupid forest floor. This was the kind of peaceful she wished her life was filled with.

No voice, no amnesia or memory loss. No fear of other bots, or actions that she did by habit to which she couldn't explain. She just wanted simple. As simple as this; sitting on a rooftop, watching and feeling the crisp, light snowflakes fall from the sky. Harmless snowflakes that couldn't do anything to her.

Instead she was stuck with everything she didn't want. She had a voice in her head - whether or not it was beneficial was an opinion. Back at base she had bots who seemed scared of her. Of **her**! What could they possibly be scared of if she couldn't remember anything about anything? She had few real friends, and no close friends that she and the voice agreed on. Sure, there was Grimlock, and he was nice and all. However, he was more often than not in his dino form, incapable of speaking to her, and acting more beastly than bot-ly. Then there was the twins. Something about them just managed to pull Laceburner in. It was hard to explain for her: something about them made her want to be near them all the time. The way they carried themselves, their mannerisms and habits, their attitudes and personalities - so different from one another yet _so_ alike. Like a paradox that she couldn't make sense of, but wanted so badly to understand.

The nightmares too. They made her life difficult. She was having the nearly every night, some bigger than others. Most of the time they were just minute, little details; small things that she remembered for the first few hours of the day, then she forgot. But at least once a week she had a nightmare that stuck with her. One that looked like her at a different place, sometimes alone, and doing something. Sometimes it was just minutes and minutes of watching herself sitting on a couch. Every once in a while, she was just staring at a black screen, but **hearing** everything that was going on. During those nightmares, she'd wake up and feel the sensations that she would've during the night mare - pain, happiness, loneliness.

All she wanted was to be able to know her past and not have her life being a giant question.

Instead, she was stuck with the unwavering fact that she obviously had a past, but she knew none of it.

 _How are we supposed to get back?_

 _ **Don't worry. Let me take over, I'll get us back home.**_

 _You gonna hurt anybody?_

The voice snorted in her head. _**I promise the only thing I'll do is get us back to base.**_

Laceburner let go of the holoform, closed her door and mentally nodded.

 _Okay. Don't hurt anyone._

The voice chuckled like an older, over protective sister.

 _ **I promise I won't.**_

Laceburner let a sigh go, but allowed herself to close her eyes and everything went black.

 **So I've never actually seen a street race, so it was difficult for me to describe one XD I tried my best, but it wasn't that great. I hope you enjoyed anyways, don't forget to review, vote on my poll and favourite! Byyyyyyeeee!**


	8. Chapter 8

**I hope you all enjoy, don't forget to review!**

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

The next time Laceburner woke up, she was in her bedroom, on her bed, tucked in her blankets and curled around one pillow, the other one under her head. The TV was off, her bedroom door was locked, the door to her shower room was shut, the couch cushions hadn't been moved, and the air in her room lacked the busy "buzz" that the rest of the base held the majority of times due to the traffic of people and bots in the base.

Her internal chronometer read seven thirty in the morning; Optimus Prime, Prowl, and Red Alert would be awake by now, but nobody else.

She slipped out of bed, tucking the blanket back on the bed and placing the pillow on top so that it was void of any wrinkles and the blanket covered the entire mattress. She walked over to the door, watching it slide open once she got close enough. The hallway was empty, like it normally was at this hour. She noticed the security cameras had gone limp and weren't up an moving around like usual.

She wondered if the voice had something to do with that.

She walked down the hallway, enjoying the silence that came with it. Very rarely was it this quiet at the base, and that was why she loved waking up around this time.

She walked through the empty main hangar, the only people in there being three or four humans who were discussing something in the "safe" room, a room built to withstand anything and everything. They most often put special guests in that room while watching the bots so that they wouldn't get hurt.

One of the humans, the one who she recognized as the leader of the humans - William Lennox - nodded to her. She brightened her visor at him in acknowledgement of his presence until it flashed green. He smiled, seemingly laughing as he turned back to he conversation in front of him, and she exited the building.

Since she was the closest to the herd, Optimus Prime had asked her if she would be able to let the dinobots out in the morning from now on. She hated it. Not because of the task itself, but because of how they were treated; locked up like beasts, treated as if they were animals, not bots. They were **bots**. They were their own person with likes, dislikes, habits and personalities. They could speak a common language that everyone understood, but because they were often in their dinoform and acted as a _herd_ , they weren't treated like everybody else. It made the Energon that flowed through her veins bubble in anger.

She opened the door and peeked inside. As usual, Strafe was the first awake, sitting in the corner with his two heads looking at her curiously, tilting side to side. She smiled at him in greeting with a blue flash of her visor and he chuffed at her quietly. She walked through the curled up bots, praying not to step on them until she made it to Grimlock's head. She patted his nose.

"Hey big man. You going to wake up?" she asked.

He groaned, his red eyes opening tiredly.

"Yeah, there we go. Come on, up we go."

There was a caw from the other side of the building as Strafe flapped his wing, being the pack alarm clock. Swoop screeched loudly, angrily, obviously tired and whipped his tail towards his brother. Strafe managed to avoid the tail, and screeched at Swoop again.

Grimlock grunted loudly to get the two of them to stop, standing up. He shifted into his normal bot form, stretching out his arms as the others woke up. She smiled at Slug, who groaned at being woken up and instead turned over.

"Come on Sluggy." she giggled, walking that way. He groaned and she pressed her hands on side, attempting to wake him up. She pushed him but all he did was groan tiredly. Finally, he groaned and tossed his head angrily, playing with his tusks.

"Morning Sluggy. How was your night?" she asked.

He grunted, obviously still tired. She chuckled walking over to the control room and opening the large back door. A loud sound peirced the air and Laceburner walked back to the main room. Strafe was already outside, stretching his wings while Swoop was also airing his wings out beside his brother.

She watched Scorn lazily head that way with Sludge, who's feet stomped loudly.

Something nudged her back, and she looked to see Grimlock - still in his bot mode - standing beside her.

"Morning. You sleep well last night?" she asked.

He grunted, and she knew that meant yes.

"That's good." she smiled. "I'm gonna head back before everyone wakes up. I'll see you later Grim."

She hugged his leg, hearing his purr in response and grunt out his goodbye, and she left their base, hearing Strafe squack.

She slipped back into the main base, through the main hangar that was still fairly quiet, and into the rec room. She closed the door so that she didn't wake anyone up and plopped down on the two person couch as she turned the TV on.

 _ **Did I or did I not tell you I'd get you home safely?**_

She almost laughed.

 _Yes, you did_

The voice smirked at her answer; she knew it would be smirking, anyways. Because that was how it was; the voice was confident and proud, and often she was the one who was right.

And it knew it too.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

"Morning 'Burner."

The black colored femme looked up and smiled at the gold colored mech. He wrapped an arm around his shoulders and kissed her cheek.

"How'd you recharge?" he asked, removing his largely muscled arm from her shoulders and sitting on a stool in front of the island.

"Fine. Tossed a little, had one nightmare, but it's getting better." she answered, placing her forearms on the island and shrugging.

A large, warm hand was placed on her shoulder, causing her to look up, her eyes connecting with his. "Hey, that's a good thing. It'll get better, and we're all right here for you."

She smiled; she loved him. He was easily her best friend; always willing to listen and stay quiet, and constantly making her laugh. He was always there for her, willing to do so much. Even when she was pissed at the world and ready to offline anybot who touched her, he knew how to calm her down just enough to reason with her. He could seemingly know exactly what she was thinking, or what her next move was. He knew when she needed time alone, or peace and quiet, and knew when she was ready to be spoken to. He could read her like a public data pad. The thought had a tear rolling down her cheek.

"Thanks 'Chief." she smiled, wiping her optics as the Energon Brewer dinged.

Another mech walked in, awake and obviously very excited from the way he capered into the room.

"Morning 'Rust." she giggled.

He looked over at as he sat down beside his younger brother. "Hey 'Burner. How much did you make?"

She smiled. "Don't worry, there's enough for everybody. Even for Rip."

The rust colored mech laughed loudly in excitement. "Yes!"

She laughed in response.

 _ **Blink!**_

 _What?_

Laceburner blinked and found herself sitting on the couch in the rec room, her peds up on the table in front of her. Her eyes were a little groggy, her arms crossed and her head hanging. The TV's volume was turned down a little, but the lights were on.

Great. Another nightmare.

 _ **Good job! You did as I told you.**_

"Oh, hey Lacey."

Laceburner looked up to see Mirage walking into the room, alongside Hot Rod and Smokescreen.

"H-Hi." she gave a tight smile.

The three mechs collapsed together on the three person couch, and Laceburner got off the couch. She grabbed three gaming remotes and handed Mirage the remote.

"You sure? We can keep watching your movie." Hot Rod offered.

Her cheeks got warm, and she shook her head. "I-It's fine. I know you want to pl-ay."

Damn it! Why couldn't she be as confident as the "her" in her nightmares? No, she was always stuttering and blushing like a child. She wanted to kick herself for it! Stupid!

They started playing their game, and she watched Mirage as he got his butt handed to him like usual, for about two hours before their peace was disrupted.

 _ ***(* Laceburner, report to Optimus Prime's office. Laceburner, to Optimus Prime's office. *)***_

She looked up from the comm links, before standing up and leaving the room without even so much as a goodbye towards the mechs. They were too busy attempting to kill each other in their game anyways.

She took approximately three minutes before she made it to Optimus's office. She knocked on the door minutely.

"Enter. Now." a sharp voice cut through the air.

 _ **Be fragging careful.**_

Now worried, she opened it slowly and slipped inside humbly.

"Laceburner. Take a seat please." Optimus Prime ordered.

Submissively, she took a seat quickly. Optimus sat in his seat, with Prowl, Ratchet, and Jazz standing beside him. She gulped.

 _ **Keep your guard up.**_ the voice instructed.

In the corner of her HUD, her minimap popped up, her radar sweeping the room. She sat tense, on the edge of her chair.

"Laceburner, where were you last night?" Optimus Prime asked.

She gulped. "What do you mean?"

"Last night. Where could I have found you last night if I needed you?" he repeated.

 _ **Lie.**_

She gulped again. "In my room.".

She felt bad for lying; that was the wrong thing to do.

 _ **Either way. It's safe.**_

"Are you positive?" Prowl asked.

She nodded, blushing.

Jazz stepped forward and placed a data pad in front of her. There was a picture of her in her alt. mode, speeding through one of the red lights she'd gone through last night. She gulped again.

 _ **Fragging**_ _ **shit**_ _ **.**_

"Is that not you?" Optimus Prime asked.

She didn't answer, but she noticed Ratchet's brows furrow.

"Prime, may I speak with Laceburner privately?" he asked.

Optimus Prime sighed. "Yes. Bring her back here once you are finished."

Ratchet walked up to her, and she stood up to follow him. He brought her out of the room and down the hall. They entered a room that she didn't recognize that looked like an office and a bedroom in one. It was cluttered with old tools that obviously could no longer be used, datapads and scanner, and the garbage can was filled with empty Energon cubes.

"Sit." he said, motioning to the berth.

She did as she was told.

 _ **Be careful, we've never been here before.**_

She gulped as Ratchet paced the length of the room.

"Did you, yourself, consciously activate the ground bridge and leave the base?" he asked.

She shook her head, looking down at her lap, where her hands sat, limp.

"Where did you wake up?" he asked.

"A-A-At a red light, in my alterna-ative mode." she answered.

He stayed silent for a moment, his brows furrowing.

"Was she there to talk to you?" he asked.

 _ **Who is he talking about?**_

Laceburner nodded, doing her best to ignore the voice.

"Did she tell you where to go?" he asked.

She nodded again.

 _ **What the frag is he talking about?**_

She gulped again.

"What was her excuse?"

Laceburner gulped, and didn't respond.

"She's listening now, isn't she?"

With tear filling her optics, she nodded.

 _ **You told him about me?**_ the voice was filled with a pure, fiery sensation that gave her chills and made her freeze.

"S-S-She told me-e I needed it so th-at I could outrun you guys i-i-i-if I need it one-one day." she answered.

 _ **How dare you?**_

"What's she saying now?" Ratchet asked.

 _ **Tell him to screw off, I'm none of his business.**_

"She's mad at me f-for telling yo-u, and she doesn't want to talk." she answered.

Ratchet furrowed his brows again, and he stayed silent for a minute or two

 _ **How dare you? I told you not to tell them!**_

"Laceburner, would you be willing to let me try something?"

She furrowed her brow, but nodded.

He nodded. "Follow me."

She followed him down the hallway, past the rec room and down into the brig. Optimus Prime, Prowl, Jazz, and Ironhide were already down there.

"What is this about, Ratchet?" Optimus Prime asked.

"I have a theory I want to test." he answered. "The cell is ready?"

Ironhide nodded.

"Good. Laceburner, can you please enter the cell?"

 _ **See?**_ _ **I fragging**_ _ **told**_ _ **you!**_

She gulped, but nodded and entered the cell. She sat on the chair that sat in the middle of the cell. Ironhide came in, and put her wrists and ankles in the restraints.

 _ **I fragging**_ _told_ _ **you! Maybe if you had listened, we wouldn't be here! You dumb fragface!**_

"Laceburner, I promise you that you will not be in any pain. We will not be hurting you no matter what. This is just a precaution." Optimus Prime promised.

With a gulp, she nodded as Ironhide left the cell and closed the door behind himself.

Ratchet looked at her. "This is towards the voice that Laceburner claims to hear. I know you can take control of Laceburner's body, and I know you're there and can hear us. Come out and talk. I have questions - _we_ have questions." he corrected.

It growled. _**Never.**_

Laceburner repeated.

"Yes. I have questions for you, and I plan to get them. We will torture if we must."

The voice laughed evilly as Laceburner gulped nervously.

 _ **Like a group of do-gooders would be willing to torture a poor, innocent femme.**_

Laceburner repeated her aloud.

"You have doubt in our first lieutenant?" Prowl asked.

Jazz smirked.

Laceburner gulped nervously, eyeing him.

The voice laughed evilly again.

Then everything went dark.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Laceburner woke back up in the Med Bay. She wasn't tied down or anything, just tucked under the blankets. Nothing was out of place, and she could move everything. Which left her with one question.

What happened?

 _ **We talked.**_

 _And_

 _ **I got some answers. Don't worry about anything else.**_

She furrowed her brow.

"Morning sleepy head." Moonracer smiled.

She blinked, her visor shielding her eyes.

"How ya feeling?" the light green femme asked.

She furrowed her brow.

"Ratchet said Optimus was talking to you about maybe going on a mission to see how good you're getting, and you started hyperventilating. Ratchet couldn't calm you down enough and you ended up going unconscious." she explained.

Ratchet, who came out of his office-room, winked at her with a smile. "I think she's good now, Sweetspark. She was probably just in shock."

Moonracer smiled up at her Sparkmate, and stood up on the tips of her peds to kiss his cheek. "Okay. I gotta head out, Jazz and Ironhide need help beating the slag out of Skids and Mudflap."

Ratchet sighed. "Please nothing bad enough to land them in here, they are the last mechs I want to deal with today."

She giggled. "No promises." she winked as she left the room.

Laceburner studied Ratchet as he watched her leave the room, his eyes trailing after her; his eyes filled with a protective passion. He loved her more than anybody really knew. They just assumed that the two got together because of the fact that they were both medics and spent so much time together: Laceburner saw that there was more to it. Ratchet was in love with Moonracer for who she was, not her proffesion. Moonracer was in love with Ratchet for who **he** was. They were a perfect match.

He turned and looked at her. "Didn't I promise you I wouldn't tell anybody?" he smiled.

She took a deep sigh in. "Thank you." she whispered. "D-Did she hu-rt you?"

He chuckled. "No. She.. expressed many of her _concerns_ to us, and we did our best to calm them, reassure her and answer her questions, then she answered some of ours."

Laceburner fidgeted. "D-Does she.. you know, remember anything?"

 _ **No.**_

He shook his head. "Nothing significant enough to even hint that she was with you before you lost your memories."

She nodded. "So.. um.. that m-means th-at the others-s know-w?"

Ratchet gave her a reassuring smile. "The only mechs who now know are myself, Optimus, Jazz, Prowl and Ironhide. They have also agreed to tell nobody else of this, and respect your wishes. Your voice also confessed that it was her who took control of your body and when you woke up, convinced you to go street racing. Optimus has agreed with us now that you are not at fault, and there will be no reprecussions for you. Though we must say, we were quite surprised when we thought it was you who went on your own."

She blushed and he smiled at her.

"You don't have to worry Laceburner. Now that Optimus is informed, everything is okay."

Just as he said that, the doors opened and Optimus Prime strode in, a small stack of data pads in his hands.

"Upon your request, my old friend." he said with a nod.

Ratchet nodded. "My thanks." he said, pointing at where to put them down.

Laceburner dropped her head, averting her gaze as Optimus Prime turned around, but he noticed her either way, and walked up to the berth she sat. She heard the sound of joints hissing as he got down on one knee.

"Laceburner. You have nothing to fear any longer. I am glad you were able to find enough trust in our Medical Officer to tell him about... her. Because of that, we now have a larger understanding of your actions and the reasons behind them. Both you and she have nothing to fear. I can garauntee you that." he said quietly.

He stood and she felt him place a hand on her head in much a similar gesture that a father-like figure would do to a child, then headed for the doors. Just as the door behind him went to close, Laceburner heard, "Hey Boss Bot!".

It was soon followed by a, "Sunstreaker, Sideswipe." that came from Optimus, obviously a greeting before the doors to the Med Bay slammed open and Sideswipe came capering in. Ratchet groaned.

 _ **Why are they here?**_

 _We're supposed to hang out today._

The voice groaned at her answer.

 _ **I'm leaving**_. Then it disappeared.

"What do you want?" Rathet asked.

He smiled. "Heard my little Lacey was in here. What happened?"

Ratchet rolled his eyes. "You shouldn't be so concerned. And she is not _your_ Laceburner."

Sideswipe shrugged as Sunstreaker walked into the room. "Oh well. I'm Lacey's friend, of course I'm going to be concerned."

Sunstreaker stopped at the foot of her bed, looking up at her, his eyes connecting with hers past her visor. "Are you okay?"

She blushed, ducking her head down and nodded minutely. "Y-Y-Yeah."

He nodded, his face monotone. "Good."

Sideswipe looked over at Ratchet. "Can she go? We were supposed to watch a movie together today."

Ratchet furrowed his brow. "Can you not do that every other day?"

Sideswipe shook his head. "No can do, Hatchet. Our schedules are conflicting this week, but we managed to clear today." he winked over at her.

Ratchet sighed. "Go ahead. She'll be fine."

Laceburner slipped her legs out of bed and landed on the ground. Sideswipe laughed, crouching in front of her.

"Hop on, Little Lacey. The Sides train is giving free rides today." he joked. "Only for you though." he added quickly after.

She noticed Sunstreaker roll his eyes at his twin, standing by the door, and Laceburner crawled onto Sideswipe's back. One of his hands clasped together around her ankles to hold her there and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and neck to keep her steady. Sunstreaker held the door open for them, following close behind them and Sideswipe walked down the hallway and turned into the rec room.

He plopped her down in the middle on the big couch, before he sat beside her, putting his arms on the back of the couch. Sunstreaker sat on the other side, putting his feet up on the table as Sideswipe turned on the TV.

"You aren't hurt, right?" Sunstreaker asked, not looking away from the TV.

She shook her head. "No, not that I kn-ow of."

He nodded. "Just double checking."

"Aw, Sunny cares." Sideswipe teased.

"Shut it." he ordered, looking over at his twin.

Sideswipe smirked as Laceburner became focused on the TV show, and made sure she wasn't watching him before he blew a kiss at Sunstreaker, wiggling his eyebrows and wagging his glossa back and forth.

 _(~ I_ _ **will**_ _end you. ~)_ Sunny threatened over the sibling bond.

Sideswipe sent back a snort. _(~ Oh please. ~)_.

He turned and focused back on the TV show that was playing. He flipped through the different channels, obviously disinterested with everything that was playing.

"Okay, there's nothing good on. What about a movie? You guys good with that instead?" Sideswipe asked.

Sunstreaker grunted, obviously having no opinion.

"Lacey? You good with that?"

She didn't respond.

"Lacey?"

Sideswipe leaned forward to look at her. She was leaned back against the couch, her peds up on the table and arms crossed. Her visor was pitch black and dark, and her helm was tilted forward a little.

"Aw." Sideswipe cooed. "She's in recharge. She must be tired."

Sunstreaker looked down at the black painted femme. Her breathing was smooth and even, her shoulders rising and falling in a steady, constant rythym. Her visor was darker than normal, which he noticed happened everytime she was in recharge. Jazz's visor didn't lose it's coloration or darken when he was recharging, it stayed the same color with it's Autobot blue tint.

He watched Sideswipe touch her ped with his own, and her leg twitched in response.

"Sides, let her recharge." he said, leaning over and smacking his twin upside the head.

Sideswipe chuckled. "I am. But it's cute."

He snorted. "Cute."

"Yeah." Sideswipe laughed. "She's cute when she twitches. Or when she blushes, that's fragging adorable. And she's not stuttering as much anymore." he smiled, looking down at her.

"Sides, she's **seventeen** millenia." Sunstreaker warned.

"And?"

Sunstreaker sighed. "It's wrong. She's not an adult yet."

"By who's standards? We aren't pressuring her into anything, and she seems to like our company. Would you rather her be with a mech like Hot Rod or Mirage?" Sideswipe rebuttled.

"Sideswipe! Stop! First of all, when you're that age, your hormones are going so crazy that you couldn't care less about who it is, all you care about is that they match your attraction and they have a glimmer of knowledge on what they're doing. Second, we barely know a thing about her, we aren't talking about this right now." Sunstreaker demanded.

The red twin looked back over at the TV with a slightly pissed off sigh.

Sunstreaker knew Sideswipe liked Laceburner. Sunstreaker knew that his younger twin wasn't sure whether or not the "like" he had for the little femme was really, authentically romantic or just a physical attraction, but it didn't matter. They both knew it didn't matter - Laceburner didn't have a twin. The one downfall to being twins was that they could only - **only** \- be compatible as Sparkmates to another set of twins. Another reason why twins were seen as bad luck back on Cybertron. It was very rare - almost impossible - to find a set of Sparkmated twins together and with sparklings. That was one of the reasons why the two of them didn't ever think they'd have a family. Now they _knew_ that they wouldn't ever have a family, but the only ones who could really have a family anymore were Optimus and Elita, Ironhide and Chromia, Ratchet and Moonracer _(by some miracle),_ and whoever Arcee ended up with. If she ever decided to settle down. Flare Up could technically have a family too, but they doubted she would ever slow down. Besides, they had the Autobots, and while the majority of them annoyed Sunstreaker to the ends of this planet, both mechs considered them a part of their family.

In her recharge, Laceburner groaned and her leg twitched. They both looked down at her, confused. While they knew - from experience - that she did often move in her recharge if it was on a berth, when she recharged anywhere else it was as if she hadn't recharged in days and was as still as a rock.

She groaned again, this time her shoulder twitched and moved back, as if she had been shot in the shoulder. Her helm fell to the side uncomfortably and she gave off a louder groan.

"Lacey?" Sideswipe asked.

She whimpered and they noticed her servos tighten into fists. "Left." she grumbled.

"Left?" Sideswipe asked, looking. The only thing there was the two person couch she often sat on, and the movie case with multiple hundred movies sitting on it.

"What the frag is she talking about?" Sunstreaker asked.

"Left." she groaned again, this time sounding frustrated.

Her engine revved loudly in a near-snarl. She took a sharp inhale through her mouth, almost a hiss.

"What is going on your little helm, Lace?" Sides asked, moving his arm from the back of the couch to around her shoulders.

Her engine revved loudly again at a high pitch, her leg kicked and her lip raised a little. "No." she growled menacingly.

"Whoa." Sideswipe said, shocked.

"Laceburner! Wake up." Sunstreaker said louder, shaking her shoulder.

Her optics snapped open, they could tell because her visor flashed and stayed red. She snarled, grabbing the hand on her shoulder, which happened to be Sideswipe's, and twisted it.

"Whoa, whoa!" he yelled his face scrunching up in pain a little.

"Laceburner!" Sunstreaker exclaimed, catching her attention.

The red of her visor glitched before it dissipated into the shiny black they knew well. She gasped, letting go of his hand and scootching back onto Sunstreaker's lap. With a quiet shriek, she pushed herself off of his lap and onto the floor before pushing herself up and transformed down. She then proceeded to speed out of the room, her wheels screaming at the friction.

"What the frag was that?" Sideswipe asked, rubbing his wrist.

"Not sure." Sunstreaker shrugged.

"Wanna go find out?" Sideswipe asked.

Sunstreaker pursed his lips, then nodded. "Sure. Not like there's anything better to do right now."

Transforming down into their alt modes, they drove out of the room and followed the tracks out of the main hangar and across the tar mac and down until they saw tracks along the sand of the beach, and followed them until a glint of shiny black caught their attention, sitting just far enough back that the water couldn't reach her. She had her knees drawn to her chest with her arms wrapped around her legs. Her shoulders were shaking with sobs.

Sideswipe transformed up first and walked over.

"Lacey?" he called as more of a warning that he was there to her than anything.

Her silent sobs didn't break or falter in any way, and he sat down beside her, wrapping his arms around her shoulders as tears streamed down her cheeks from under her visor.

"What's wrong little Princess?" he asked as Sunstreaker drove up in his alt mode, parking beind them.

"I ju-st want-t to remember." she sobbed, letting her head fall onto his shoulders as her sobs escalated. "I-I wan-t cont-r-ol over my-y lif-fe. Why-y did this happen-n to m-e?" she asked through her hiccups.

"I know it's hard." he mumbled. "You will, don't worry. I promise, one day you'll remember your life and you won't be questioning anything, anymore. You'll understand why you do everything that you do." he said.

She sobbed louder. He sighed.

"I promise you will, Princess."

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

 **Hope you guys enjoyed! Kisses to everybody for being so patient because school is a serious biotch.**


	9. Chapter 9

**So guess who gets to go on her very first mission! That's right! Our little Laceburner! I updated a little sooner than usual this time because it may be quite a while until the next update - I have school until the 23rd this year because of the day that Christmas falls on - and plus the teachers want to finish a bunch of stuff before the break so the update may only come on the last week of December, which is four weeks from now. However I managed to carve some time out because I think of you guys every day (not even a letter of a lie, I seriously do) and the feeling of guilt is really bad when I don't give you guys another chapter. So! Thank you all for being so supportive during this time, it means a lot, and I hope you enjoy this one! Nothing to action packed, but a little suspenseful.**

 **Don't forget to review, maybe even leave a suggestion on what you'd like to see, I may be able to work something in for all of you, and have a great weekend (it is over here anyways)! Bye!**

Why Sunstreaker? That was the one thing that she wanted to know right now. Why, out of every other mech on this base, was she so entranced with **Sunstreaker**? Yeah, he always always at least.. civil with her, even when he was busy being a jerk to the other mechs. And yeah, he was fairly nice to look at, but the majority of mechs on this base were good looking too. So why was it Sunstreaker who caught her attention the most? Even when the room was filled with bots and she was talking to someone, the second Sunstreaker entered even her peripheral vision, it felt like she _had_ to look at him. He just seemed to be able to.. pull her attention away in any scenario.

And it wasn't like Sideswipe didn't have that effect on her too; he did. All the time. But with the older twin it was like the effect was multiplied by ten. She just seemed to adore staring at him.

He was.. physically perfect. From the way his optics dimmed - sometimes only slightly - whenever someone pushed his boundaries or he got angry, mad, frustrated, to the way he'd pick at the plating on his palms whenever he was contemplating or thinking about something.

With Sideswipe, if he had any little habits that he did like that, he hid them extremely well. Instead, he was just hilarious and open. Sunstreaker was more of a mystery to her.

"Are you ready, Laceburner?"

The black painted femme looked up at Prowl, who stood beside her in the Ground Bridge room. Optimus Prime, Jazz, and Ratchet stood behind them, observing closely. To her left was a large screen that was connected to her visionary display link, which she currently had activated. They could see everything she could. She had a private group communications link open with the four of them as well.

She nodded. "Yes sir."

He nodded. "We spotted the two Decepticons' energon signatures a few miles from where we dropped you off. Your mission is to track them down and report what they're doing. You are then to devise and report back to us, multiple scenarios on how we can take them into custody safely and quietly. You will not be engaging in combat. Understood?" he asked.

Nervously, she nodded.

"Don't be nervous, Lil Lacey. You're gonna do great." Jazz reassured her.

She nodded, then transformed down and drove through the groundbridge. She came out on the other side in what looked like a parking lot to a supply warehouse that was currently closed. The ground bridge closed behind her with a _'zip'_ , and she drove forward.

 _{:: The signals were picked up eight miles East of your location. Sending coordinates to your mini map. ::}_ Optimus Prime said over the private comm.

Her HUD dinged, and the mini map reloaded.

 _ **Ready?**_

She took a big sigh in. _We got this._

 _ **Then let's go.**_

She drove forward slowly, opening the locked gate with little force, and turned left towards the way the mini map said to go. Seeing as it was the middle of a Wednesday, the streets weren't as crowded as they could have been, mostly filled with retired humans going somewhere, large driving tractor trailers doing their best to avoid the major highways, and young humans who were skipping whatever they were supposed to be doing and walking somewhere. A group of five or six males whooped, pointing at her car excitedly as she drove past where they stood on the sidewalk.

 _ **Show off for 'em**_.

With an inner sigh, Laceburner revved her engine angrily. Angry that the voice couldn't stay focused and think of **not** showing off, for once.

 _ **Oh suck it up. Look how happy they are.**_

She would've rolled her optics if she had been in bipedal mode, but continued on.

 _{:: You're ETA five minutes. ::}_ Prowl's voice came over the private comm.

She slowed down, turning down what looked like a dirty, old backroad.

 _{:: One mile. ::}_

She cut her engine and rolled as far as she could before transforming up. She kept her ped steps as quiet as possible.

 _{:: Proceed with caution. ::}_

 _{:: Yes sir. ::}_ she sent back.

 _ **Turn off your hydraulics system once you get there. You won't be moving so you won't need it.**_

She nodded silently to herself.

 _{:: Seven hundred metres. ::}_ Optimus Prime informed.

She froze. An old, abandonned building stood in front of her. It looked like an old warehouse of some kind, except the walls were so old that they were water stained and the paint was starting to curl and peel off. The windows were barred and closed with plywood.

Her radar ran a sweep of the area, picking up the two signals inside, along with a lay out of the building. In front of her eyes, the lay out turned and she analysed.

 _ **There's a door large enough to crawl through around back. It leads to a floor above them. You should be able to spy on them from up there.**_

She nodded, walking around the building. Just like the voice said, there was a large door at the back of the building. She pulled it open slowly to avoid it making noise, and she followed the the stairs up quietly.

 _ **Army crawl.**_ the voice ordered once she got to the top.

Listening to the voice, she got flat on her stomach and used her elbows and knees to get close to the railing. The two mechs stood in the middle, talking to each other.

 _ **Turn off your hydraulics for now.**_

She listened to the voice, turning them off now that she wasn't moving.

"And how do you back **that** assumption up?" the black one asked.

"Because. Lord Megatron is dead, and it's impossible to bring him back. Starscream does not have a _clue_ what it takes to be leader." the red one retorted.

The blck one huffed. "Maybe he'll get better."

"You really think that'll happen? Our only option is to defect. That or run."

 _{:: Visual on Decepticons. ::}_ she sent back to the mechs.

 _ **Get ready! Let's do this!**_ the voice said excitedly

She nodded, and opened her comm link so that the four mechs back home would hear her thoughts.

 _{:: Whenever you're ready, Laceburner. We will not interuppt your thoughts until you've come to a conclusion. ::}_ Optimus Prime promised.

She looked around again, and kept the private comm wide open.

There was another door on the exact opposite wall of where she was. Somebody could easily come charging through there and take them down. The mechs, however, were standing in the middle of the room, about thirty feet from the door. According to the radar lay out she had of the building, as well as the feeling of cold air coming up from underneath her, there was another door of some kind along that wall. It was large enough that they could unlatch it open and both of them could get out at the same time. You could go through the door on that wall, but they'd be able to get through the door she was looking at. Using either door, they could get away.

Then again, you could come in through the roof. The structure of the roof was poor, the metal rusty and weak. Put weight on it, it would buckle and collapse. But that would be loud, and the fall would take at least three seconds. In that time span, they could easily get out either or both doors. And if they split up, it woul be even harder to track both of them.

Of course, they could go the way she went. Around back and up the stairs. Jump off the railing. The two mechs down below wouldn't see them until last minute. However, they may hear them coming up the stairs, or the floorboards might creak at any more weight than her. Then the two mechs could got out either door or seperate. Then they'd be gone.

Then again, if Optimus Prime and the others sent more than two bots, one could go through the door she was staring at, another one could go through the door behind her, and the other bots could wait outside _just in case_ they managed to get out. But they probably wouldn't be able to, unless they were prepared to throw themselves through tons of concrete, since there were only two doors and no windows. That was their best chance.

 _{:: Got it? ::}_ she asked.

 _{:: Affirmative. Quietly get out of there. We've dispatched Mirage, Hot Rod, Smokescreen and Cliffjumper to your location and they will take it from there. Return to the ground bridge dispatch location. ::}_ Optimus Prime ordered.

She nodded, and scuttled back quietly, turning her visionary display link off.

 _ **Hydraulics.**_ the voice reminded.

She was shocked it had stayed quiet for so long; it very rarely was quiet.

 _ **Very funny.**_

She reactivated her hydraulics system, before stepping down the stairs and out of the building quietly. Thankfully, she went unnoticed by the two mechs all the way back to the road, then transformed down into her alt mode.

 _ **Keep it quiet, they might still hear you. Go slow**_.

Following the voice's advice, she kept her speed slow and even until she knew she was far enough away that they wouldn't hear her. She entered the city and heard a horn honk in front of her. The shiny, red Ferrari that she'd learn to recognize as Mirage was coming down the opposite side of the road, followed by Hot Rod, Smokescreen and Cliffjumper.

She honked twice.

 _{:: Hey Lacey! Thanks for scoping them out, we'll get 'em! ::}_ Hot Rod sent over a private comm.

She slowed, getting closer to the yellow line. Getting the message, Mirage slowed his pace too and they drive so closely to one another that you would've thought they were touching. The two of them clinked passenger mirrors in a high five that they had done multiple hundred times on base. The other three mechs did the same, then continued their drive down the road and Laceburer headed in the opposite direction.

She pulled up to an empty four-way stop, looking both ways then kept going.

Out of the corner of her view, something light colored zommed past her, a road down. She slammed on her brakes, her tires skidding against the hot pavement.

 _ **What?!**_

Ignoring the voice, she backed up quickly, before backing up and turning towards where it went.

 _ **Hey! What happened!? Where are we going?!**_

She pulled up to the red light where she saw it, then turned left and followed the curve of the road. She followed the road until it came to a dead end, then she pulled into an alley way slightly and turned back around in the street. He was right _there_ , she knew she had seen him!

 _ **Who?**_

An engine revved loudly, and she looked that way. A pair of red lights that reminded her of eyes looked out of the alley way, filling her with an intense amount of anxiety. What was that? What was about to happen? Then suddenly there was a pop and they disappeared with a blue light that blinked for about five seconds. Maybe it **had** been him.

 _ **Who!?**_

 _Nobody._ She thought.

 _ **Whatever. Geez, you are friggin' werid sometimes. Just get back to the rendez vous point.**_

She revved her engine again and drove back to the rendez vous point.

 _{:: Laceburner? Are you close to returning? ::}_ Prowl asked.

 _{:: Affirmative, eta two minutes. ::}_ she answered.

 _{:: Copy that, opening ground bridge. ::}_

In the distance, she heard a zip and saw the reflection of blue in front of her. She sped up a little until she reached the parking lot where the ground bridge was opened. She entered the parking lot, her alt mode jerking forward three times before she transformed up and entered the ground bridge.

Jazz was on the other side with a smile, helping her out.

"Good job Laceburner, we've used your suggestion and the mechs were able to capture both Decepticons. We'll be taking them into interregation for a while." Prowl informed her.

She nodded with a tight smile.

"Good job Lil Lacey." Jazz smiled, holding a hand up.

She raised her hand slowly and the two of them exchanged a high five.

"You are excused. My thanks for your work, Laceburner." Optimus Prime said, and she nodded before leaving the room.

She headed out of the ground bridge hangar and onto the tar mac. Apparently, before she showed up, there was an incident involving the ground bridge and a couple humans in the main hangar. After that, Ratchet agreed to move the ground bridge to it's own hangar, where nobody would get hurt by it if it malfunctioned.

She entered the main base, and down the bedroom hall, coming to a stop in front of Sideswipe and Sunstreaker's door. She knocked on it quietly, but got no response. She knocked lightly again.

"Hello?" she asked, putting in their code. They didn't know that she knew their code, but she'd watched Sideswipe and Sunstreaker put it in so many times that she ended up memorizing it.

Nobody sat on the couch inside, and the beds were just like normal. Sunstreaker's bed was perfectly made, with his two pillows above the blanket and not a single wrinkle throughout the blanket. Then Sideswipe's, who had a personal detest for making his bed; the banket was crumpled in to a ball, with both of his pillows strewn across the bed in two different places. A major difference to show just how different the two could really be.

She sighed. Where were they?

 _ **Who cares?**_

She huffed again; _let me guess, you're leaving?_

 _ **Yep. Bye.**_

With that the voice seemed to disappear and she looked around. The TV was off. That only happened when they were pranking someone... or got caught pranking someone. Even when they went on patrol shifts, they kept the TV on. Something about a way of saying _"frag you"_ to the human government for making it so complicated that they had to say on Earth. She sighed for the millionth time at the two idiots, then walked to her room and grabbed two High Grade cubes from under her bed, subspacing the two of them. Her hiding spot.

She left the room again, hearing her door click and lock shut and she headed through the base and opened an old, rickety looking door. She looked behind her to make sure no one was looking, then opened it and walked down the stairs, closing it behind her to make sure it looked like she _hadn't_ come down here.

"Princess?" a deep voice asked from down the hall.

She smiled at it, and walked down until she saw the glint of gold behind a set of cell bars. She walked up to it, then stuck her arms in between the bars. Sideswipe - with a giant smile - got up off the bed and trotted over as she subspaced the cubes onto her hands. Sunstreaker followed suit, but much slower and he lacked the caper in his step that Sideswipe had.

"Thanks Lacey." Sideswipe smiled opening his cube.

After Sunstreaker took his cube, she turned and leaned against the back wall. Like usual, Sunstreaker went back to the bed and propped his leg up, but Sideswipe situated himself in front of the cell bars. She furrowed her brow.

"How'd your mission go?" he asked.

"Oh. Um.. good. The guys were able to capture the two of them." she answered.

He nodded. "What were they doing?"

She shrugged. "They were just.. talking. Like I am to you, something about.." she pondered for a second. "Starscream being a bad leader compared to Megagiant, and defecting. I think."

Sunstreaker snorted, putting his hand over his mouth to avoid spitting it out. Sideswipe's jaw dropped.

"What?" Sunstreaker choked out, coughing.

She looked up at him, startled. "Are you okay?"

He finished coughing. "I'm fine. What were those Decepticraps talking about?"

She furrowed her brow, using the wall to scratch her back. "Something about Megagiant being dead and Starscream not knowing how to run something. One of 'em said their only option was to defect." she finished scratching her back and stopped, checking the wall to make sure the paint hadn't worn off.

Sunstreaker furrowed his brow, then Laceburner started to giggle, trying to keep it under her breath.

"What?" Sideswipe asked.

She smiled again, darkening her visor to hide her optics lighting up with amusement.

"The two of you. In this light, when you're side by side, you look like bottles of Ketchup and Mustard side by side on a diner's table." she giggled.

The two of them scowled at her, but her giggled eventually wore off on him and Sidesiwpe started chuckling too.

"Where did that come from?" he asked.

She shrugged as she finished laughing and leaned back against the wall.

"Why do you keep coming down here anyways?" Sunstreaker asked bluntly.

She blinked; he had been a blunt guy ever since she met him, but it still shocked her sometimes.

"Don't you want at least **some** kind of company?" she asked.

"We have each other." he reminded her.

"Yes, but you're also in each other's head twenty four seven because of the bond, aren't you?" she reminded. "I can leave if you really want."

His mind seemed to wander. Why was she so nice? In his entire life, from being a poor, fighting slave in the Pits to being a rich mech who was lavished with femmes, the highest of high grades and everything a bot could think or dream of, not bot had ever done something _for_ him out of the goodness of their spark. Nobot had ever done something considerate because they thought he'd enjoy it. Nobot had ever thought that maybe, just maybe, he and Sideswipe wanted to have someone else there for the sake of company. Yeah, they did always have each other. That part was true. But they always had each other twenty four seven. Even though Sunstreaker would never trade that luxury for anything in the world - it had save his life so many times that he couln't count, especially growing up in the Pits - it was still nice to not have to sit there and listen to Sideswipe rant on and on. To not have to feel everything Sideswipe was feeling, all the time, every day. To have somebot else to focus on. Nobot had ever done something for them without expecting recompensation of some kind. There was always something to be done in return, whether it was credits or something else. So why was she? What was her motive? She was way to young and.. innocent, frankly, for her motive to be interface; credits was out of the question; she could - and did anyways- get attention from anybot else on this base. So what did she really want? He noticed that she stood up in the middle of his pondering, obviously taking his silence as a _'yes'_ to wanting to be left alone.

"Hey Lace, you can stay if you want. I was just thinking." he said, turning and heading back to the bed he was on before.

Laceburner looked over at Sideswipe in surprise - Sunstreaker never, _never_ , called her by a nick name. Ever.

She walked back over, crossing her legs as she sat down in front of Sideswipe. Her fingers traced over what looked like a vein under the cement on the ground.

"What is this?" she asked.

"The electrical cord to the bars. If we ever keep 'Cons down here, we electrify the bars." Sideswipe answered.

Her optics got wide again, and she noticed the reflection of green light on the pavement from her visor.

"Really?" she asked.

He nodded. "Have to. They'd probably figure out a way to get out without it. Prowl doesn't electrify them if it's one of us though. Except for Skids and Mudflap, but they deserved that. If they hadn't tried to sneak their way out the first time they were down here and just taken their one day in the brig, they would've been fine." he nodded.

She nodded. She hadn't seen Skids or Mudflap in a little while now, but that was mostly because she was often with these twins or the Dinobots, and she knew for a fact that those two prefered not to go near either or.

"This stuff is really good, Princess. Where did you get it?" he asked.

"Uh.. I think those two come from Jazz. He gave me, like, twenty cubes a few weeks after I showed up." she answered.

She didn't actually drink the High Grade stuff. She took the cubes from anybot who gave them to her, but she'd just tuck them away and give it to Sideswipe and Sunstreaker while they were down here, or whenever they ran out. Jazz seemed to like giving them to her, Mirage threw her a few every once in a while, and Hot Rod had given her some as well whenever they were hanging out and her stomach growled.

"He's always got a pretty good stash on him, I'm not surprised these come from him." Sunstreaker nodded as he took another sip.

She nodded, then furrowed her brow at a ticklish feeling on her knee. She looked down to see a finger ticking under the light armor that was there and followed it up to where Sideswipe sat, his arm sneaked out from in between two bars. He was smiling cheekily.

"What's this?" he asked with a gasp as he lightly traced a certain spot on her knee. "Is our little Lacey Princess -" he gasped again. "Ticklish."

She stood up, and moved over to the wall, pulling her knees up to her chest. "No."

He smirked. "Oh, I think you are. Right Sunny?"

Sunstreaker was watching her with a cocky smirk too from where he sat on the bed, one leg bent at the knee and holing his largely muscles arm while the other arm held his cube of Energon, and his other leg hung off the side of the bed. "I think you're right Sides. We'll have to test that theory when we get outta here."

She blushed, looking away, but refrained from talking lest she make a fool out of herself.

Because she had been doing that an awful lot since she got here.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Heavy pedsteps echoed off of the surrounding walls of the cave, the large, broad shouldered, dark brown and black mech walked down the long cave, his red optics scanning the dark area that he had been up and down thousands of times. It was so boring. His headlights brightened to aid him in seeing where he was going, but he didn't need it. He'd done this walk way too often for his liking.

His eyes finally landed on something other than the disgusting organic-rock matter.

The smooth black finish gave him a shiny glint that made him easy to spot, along with the dark red optics, multiple shades darker than his own. He wasn't nearly as large as the dark brown mech himself in neither height nor muscle, but the way he carried himself - his shoulders tightly straight, and the wisdom in his what-looked-like-calm optics - made it obvious that he had been around longer and had ten times the knowledge. Some of it learned through mentors, others from having to learn it the hard way. The rust in the cracks of his faceplates gave away the stress he was dealing with nowadays.

The older mech turned upon hearing him, his attentions being turned from the little, petite femme he had been talking to, to the dark brown mech who approached him.

He extended his servo, and the dark brown mech shook it.

"You weren't tagged or followed?"

"No sir."

"Good. So?"

The dark brown mech sighed, feeling the optics of multiple others on his back. The petite femme who was sitting the black, shiny mech had tears filled in her optics as she grabbed the black mech's servo and pulled herself up to stand behind him, anxiously waiting for the response. They all were, but the others were hiding it well.

"You were incorrect sir. It wasn't just a coincedence."

"So it's.."

The dark brown mech nodded. The femme's optics filled with tears and an unreadable expression; the mech stayed monotone, though something zipped through his optics extremely quickly, too quick for a regular civilian to be able to see.

"Yes sir. It's Laceburner."


	10. Chapter 10

**_We're on Chapter 10 guys!_ It's kind of exciting that we're on Chapter 10. Ten whole chapters, and I'm so proud and excited to keep going with Laceburner and her story. I've got some pretty great ideas to ;) I hope you guys enjoy and don't forget to drop a review! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all! Hope you all saw the TF5 trailer and got pumped, I know I am!**

 **Also, please excuse any spelling mistakes and typos, I haven't had time to proof read this so I'm sure they're in there, riddled throughout my display of words!**

"Oh _princess_. Your day just got better 'cause we just showed u- is she recharging?"

Sideswipe stopped in his tracks for a moment, looking over at the couch in the private rec room. Not too long ago, the people and bots on base began referring to this room as _'Laceburner's Lounge'_ , simply because before she showed up, nobody used it. But now that she used it more often than she entered the actual rec room, more and more bots used it as well. Besides, nowadays if you needed to find Laceburner, there were only really four places you had to look: where ever Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were, where ever the Dinobots were, in the private rec room, or down by the beach, in her alt mode. She seemed to enjoy being there while everything started getting busy. Sideswipe figured it was because her little beach spot was far away from the base, making it nice and quiet. She seemed to **love** the quiet.

The black painted femme lay on the couch on her back, one arm thrown over her helm and bent over her visor at the elbow, blocking light from reaching her optics and hiding the top half of her face. The other arm hung off the side of the couch, the remote sitting in her palm precariously due to her servo being limp in her sleep, the digits curled lazily around it. She had one leg up and bent at her knee, while the other was stretched out along the couch. Her armor was still intact and completely black, although it had lost the wax induced shine that Sunstreaker had originally rubbed into the paint, leaving it more of a matte color now. The lights in the room were all off except for the lamp that was in the far corner, alongside the glow of the constant frame-changing TV, the volume set extremely low.

"No slag, dumbaft." Sunstreaker said, hitting him on the helm as he passed the younger twin. He sat down at the end of the couch. Laceburner's legs were considered very long -for her height - but compared to everybot else, they were short, which left just enough space for somebot to sit at the end of the couch.

Sideswipe plopped down on the recliner as Sunstreaker leaned forward and managed to slowly slip the remote from her servo, changing the channel. She huffed in her recharge, then raised her hand from hanging off the side of the couch to place it over her stomach.

"Wonder is she's still not recharging at night." Sideswipe mumbled.

"Smoke doesn't think so. For the past few nights, he said whenever he goes to recharge, she was still wide awake." Sunny retorted.

"Wonder what's keeping her up in the first place." Sideswipe pondered.

"Why is **that** what you're wondering about her?" Sunstreaker asked.

"What else would you wonder?" he challenged.

Sunstreaker looked over at him with furrowed optic ridges. "How did she get here? What caused her amnesia? Did she choose a faction back home? What killed her parents? How did she survive? Where did she go? If her parents were killed that means she raised herself on a torn spark without help, how did she manage that? Where did she hide? How did she get credits or energon at such a young age? What city state did she live in? Sides, there's a **multitude** of questions you can ask before asking why she's not recharging at night. At least she's managing to recharge during the day when she doesn't recharge at night."

Sideswipe sighed, looked back at the TV, knowing his brother was right. "Well I'm asking it anyways."

Sunstreaker snorted with a roll of his optics, and Laceburner mumbled in her recharging, shifting her hips a little. Sunstreaker noticed it, remembering the last time they recharged together. He knew that he should've left her in her room, but he hadn't and that night he had such a hard time recharging because she kept shifting her hips. Against his. All night long.

"Princess? You waking up?" Sideswipe asked.

She groaned, turning onto her side in an uncomfortable position.

"La- _ceey_." he sang when she didn't answer.

She raised a servo, extending it back and swinging. Had Sideswipe's instincts not kicked in so quickly, she would've hit him in the face.

"Shut up, Sides." she mumbled, turning over to the other side.

Her legs twitched, hitting Sunstreaker in the thigh without meaning to. Suddenly, she furrowed her brows in confusion, then kicked again, harder this time.

"Sunn..?" she grumbled out her question tiredly.

He snorted as Sideswipe laughed loudly. "Watch the paint."

She grumbled again, this one with a growling undertone, turning over again.

She snarled suddenly, catching the two of them off guard. "I was comfy before you woke me up, you processor fragged, son of a glitch, _slagface_." she growled loudly.

Sunstreaker laughed at Sideswipe, pointing at him a the red mech's jaw dropped.

"Lacey!"

She growled at him again, something they _**never**_ would've expected from **her** , and Sunstreaker noticed her visor glitch orange. Sunstreaker leaned over the couch, grabbing the spare blanket from the rack beside the arm, then fluffed it out and laid it on top of her.

She grumbled loudly. "Thanks.", then placed her servos together and under her helm. She seemed to deflate in to the couch and was probably **just** about to fall asleep when the doors opened again.

"Laceburner! What up?!" Hot Rod yelled in a happy tone.

Laceburner groaned loudly, before shoving her helm into the couch cushion and yelling out her lack of recharge-induced frustration loudly. Then, she sat up, scooting over to sit beside Sunstreaker as Hot Rod and Mirage sat down on the other two cushions.

She had her brows furrowed angrily, her face drooping in a tired scowl. Sunstreaker chuckled, and she looked up at him with the scowl, then her visor glitched blue.

"Glad I can amuse you." she grumbled, crossing her arms angrily.

"Sorry Lacey, did we wake you?" Mirage asked.

She looked over and pointed at Sideswipe. " **He** woke me up. I was trying to fall back asleep when you two walked in."

Sideswipe smiled at her. "Aw, sorry Little Lacey."

"No you aren't." she grumbled, propping her peds up on the coffee table in front of her, her arms still crossed.

"What are we watching?" Hot Rod asked.

"Whatever's on." Sunstreaker shrugged, feeling his armor grace over the exposed protoform of her shoulder.

They stayed quiet as the TV show droned on. It wasn't for another forty minutes or so until something tapped Sunstreaker's shoulder. He looked down to see Laceburner leaning against him, her visor gone dark. She fell back into recharge. The ends of his lips tilted up half of a centimetre, and he reached an arms behind her, grabbing the blanket that had fallen in between her and Hot Rod. With the new position he had moved into, she ended up leaning over and her helm rested against his chest plates. He pushed her back ever so slightly to move his arm back and covered her with the blanket. She huffed, resting her helm back on his shoulder.

"How cute." Hot Rod mumbled.

"Shut it." he snapped.

The other two looked away, but either way Sideswipe continued smirking at him.

 _(~ Look. Away. ~)_

Sideswipe smirked wider. _(~ You can't make me. ~)_ he sang over the bond.

Sunstreaker scowled again, leaning away from Laceburner a little bit. Without him there to balance she ended up changing direction and leaned against Hot Rod's shoulder instead. With a grin, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, glad to let her recharge against him and her helm rested in the crease between his chest plates and shoulder joint.

She shifted in her recharge again, but soon after stopped moving althogether as the movie continued on.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Laceburner sat on the beach, watching the tide roll in calmly as the sun set, creating pink, orange, and red colors across the horizon. She was parked just far enough back that the tide could only reach the bottom of her tires, whose rims were cacked with mud and sand, before receeding back to the ocean. She'd found this perfect little spot about a month ago; it was nice and quiet, in the perfect location where it was never so hot from the sun, but never freezing because sun rays always managed to reach her somehow. It was far from the base, which left her with the peace and quiet, the only sounds being the waves rolling in and out, and the occasional, very distant caw from Strafe or Swoop from where ever they were on this island.

This stupid island.

The water graced over the bottom of her tires, cooling the hot rubber from the drive down here. As much as she loved coming down here, the drive over sand was quite a hassle for her to accomplish. But it was worth it. Even the voice loved coming down here.

 _ **Quiet. Away from everybody. Safe too.**_ it informed her.

Water rolled up the shore, splashing against the hot rubber of her tires before retreating quickly back to the ocean.

Earlier that day they were briefing a load of newly recruited soldiers, as well as a whole new load of fresh Autobots that nobody expected to show, which meant the entire base was buzzing, busy and loud, with different humans walking to a fro, and different bots **everywhere**. She almost had an anxiety attack from everything. Due to the new load of Autobots, she was forced to only have a ten minute practice with Prowl instead of the regular sixty minutes, which put her a little on edge, but then everything else was changed and she felt herself starting to panic. The voice then suggested they leave the base. Of course,it wanted to leave for a completely different reason.

The newest round of Autobots consisted of five bots, if what she heard was true. There was another femme, which she knew Arcee and Chromia were happy about, and four mechs. She didn't recognize any of them, of course, and had yet to meet them. She'd heard their names, however; Ultra Magnus, Springer, Tracks, Trailbreaker, and Mythic. When they learned of this, Sideswipe perked up at the mention of Mythic's name, so she assumed they knew each other from before. Of course, that depressed Laceburner.

He could **remember** her. The one thing she wanted. Upon hearing her name, he could probably bring up memories of her; her fighting methods, maybe something funny that they once shared, what she looks like, her voice, how he met her. She wished she could do the same.

Her inability to do so left her in a depressed state, so she urged the twins to go see their old friend and left the base in favour for driving down here to relax and not fall into an anxiety attack.

And that was near inevitable sometimes.

She wished it wasn't.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

He was in a place he never wanted to see ever again. The walls held their regular, ominous, dark feeling, complete with the dim lights that flickered and wavered at even the slightest of vibrations that passed them. It held no sounds at all, besides the faint buzz from the lights. It reeked of rotten energon and interface fluid, nothing you wouldn't expect from around here, the floor littered with cracks from the aon upon aon cycles of neglect and abuse, which could be same about the bars of the cells that stood, lined up in a row. They were rickety and rusted, old and damaged, loose and dangerous. It was obvious they were often beaten on or used to beat something. Or someone.

The majority of them were empty, instead filled with excess waste of some kind or other and riddled with disassembled limbs that were no longer useful, but every five cells or so, there was a mech who sat against the back wall, legs wide open and muscles flexing every time someone passed in an attempt to show off how powerful they could be; how danergous it would be to approach. Mechs who relied on their more... primal instincts to survive, not totally thinking with logic.

Except for, in one random cell, there was a pair of twins. They sat side by side, their armor bare of paint and covered in multiple scratches that were healed or heal _ing,_ as well as being riddled with gashes of missing metal, allowing you to see the ripples of muscles that clung to their protoform below; at look you wouldn't expect from sixteen aon cycle old twin mechs. One bore audio finns, while the other's helm was decorated with audio horns. They both had dark blue optics, although the one on the right was bigger in both height and muscle. They weren't speaking, and barely moving. They just sat there like caged animals, waiting for their endlessly long days to end until the next one popped up and they had a new match against a new opponent. The same thing, every day, never changing. A horrible life.

A sudden, distinctive _boom_ caught their attention. There was hushed, distant screams of mechs and femmes from outside, in the battle ring, followed by another boom.

The larger twin looked over confused.

 _(~ Sides. Sides, what was that? ~)_

 _(~ What was what? ~)_

Before the older twin could send back a response, a little amount of light trickled in through the hall. One of the mechs in a cell farther up snarled, an attempt to show how tough he was.

They heard the sound of joints whirring as peds landed roughly on the ground as the bot ran down the hall. Suddenly, metal screeched against the floor. A femme, painted a color that looked dark brown, but could have been a dark blue due to the lack light they had, walked up to their cell, her optics running over their frames. They transferred over to the name plate that stood outside the cells, her optics running over the _'Sunstreaker & Sideswipe'_ that was carved into the metal, she ran her thumb over it before a sword slid out from her weapons casement by her wrist, and she slammed it down over the cell lock.

Sunstreaker stood up, his muscles flexing sub consciously as he stopped in front of his twin protectively, watching her every move. She jammed her sword over the lock two more times until it sliced through and the cell door opened.

Sideswipe stood up, his servos clenching into fists as well. She opened the cell and her blades slid back into their casement, standing in front of them as if analyzing everything about them. She stood fairly shorter than both of them, her frame and armor looking more like a pleasure femme's than anything else, but the way she stood gave away that she was used to fighting. Suddenly, another boom resounded through the halls. Her helm snapped that way quickly.

She reached into her subspace and pulled out a sack of something that jangled together. She looked inside to make sure it was whatever it was, then placed it on the ground and slid it over. It hit Sunstreaker's ped. The larger mech snarled.

"It's just credits." she said softly, attempting to calm the mech; he was a constantly caged mech, only allowed to come out when it came to fighting. A little like a caged animal, she had to be careful.

 _*(* Check it out. Be careful. *)*_ Sunstreaker ordered.

Sideswipe knelt down, peering in. It was exactly what she said, approximately seven hundred credits. All perfectly polished and bright.

 _*(* It's credits. *)*_

"The far west back door is unlocked, and the corridor is empty. That's your way out, it'll be empty for five kliks. Hurry up and hide in the yellow building two streets over from here, they don't go in there due to security issues. Hurry." she whispered, then turned and ran down the hall, disappearing.

 _*(* Let's go! *)*_

 _*(* How do we know she's telling the truth? *)*_

 _*(* What else would her motive be besides to help us? *)*_

Sunstreaker kept his blades, out, making sure nobot was coming down the hall and Sideswipe led the way down the hall. Just like she said, the back west corridor was empty, except for the security bot that lay on the floor, unconscious. The door was unlocked, and they did exactly what she said. The roads were empty so they rushed across the roads and into the yellow building, hiding in a random room that had a lock on the inside.

Sideswipe opened his subspace and looked inside the sack. Hundreds of polished gold coins sat together in the small sack, jingling around.

"I've never actually seen credits before." his twin mumbled as they sat against the back wall of a closet-like room.

"Me either." Sideswipe said.

"Look at that gold. The hues look perfectly blended." Sunstreaker mumbled; he'd always wanted to be an artist. "They're so **polished**."

"We could buy Energon. Like, the High Grade energon the higher ups always use." Sideswipe noted.

Sunstreaker leaned down and picked one up between his rough, calloused digits. "They're perfect."

"We owe it to that femme, you know that right?" Sideswipe asked.

"I know. We should find her and repay our debt." Sunstreaker mumbled as his optics flickered.

"We should invest these credits. In four joors it'll be tripled in worth." Sideswipe said; he'd always been the one with the better calculation skills.

They remained quiet for a while, before Sunstreaker ran his digit over his paint barren armor, before picking up another credit. "I'm going to paint myself this color. I'm never going to be this dirty or disgusting again. I'll be as polished and perfectly painted as these coins. I'm _never_ letting myself go back to this." he said determinedly. "I'll be perfectly polished and a glowing gold for the rest of my life."

Sideswipe looked up at him tiredly, and Sunstreaker dropped it back down in the sack. He smiled as his younger brother as his optics fluttered, starting to fall into recharge from their day.

"It's all because of that femme, Sunny." Sideswipe mumbled, just about to close his optics. "All because of her."

Sunstreaker placed his servo on Sideswipe's helm. "I know Sides. Don't worry, we'll make it up to her one day."

Sideswipe closed his optics, unable to keep them open any longer. "Promise?"

"I promise Sides. Go recharge, I'll make sure you're safe."

The smaller mech mumbled something nonsensical, his optics fluttering shut and, and Sunstreaker sighed, looking forwards.

"All because of her."

"Right Sides?"

"Sides?"

"Sides, wake up!"

Sideswipe onlined with a jerk, his optics powering up as they took in his surroundings. He lay on his and Sunstreaker's berth, which were pushed together. The TV was on, although muted. He looked down at the ground, where his armor sat discarded around the floor - his armor was red. Painted.

He was on Earth. Not Cybertron. Not in the Pits.

"Sides?"

Sunstreaker stood above him, a servo on his shoulder.

"You okay?" the golden twin asked.

Sideswipe nodded. "Yeah. Yeah I'm fine. Where's Mythic."

"She left. Optimus had the new ones go for a briefing as well as the meet the soldiers, learn the rules and ask questions." Sunstreaker answered. "She's also the reason I have to repolish." he added in a grumbled tone at the end.

"Yeah, but she's also the reason we finally got a frag." Sideswipe pointed out, standing off the bed.

Sunstreaker turned to look a him, a smirk plastered across his face. "Oh believe me. I know."

"She's better than I remember, too." Sideswipe smirked.

Sunstreaker snorted. "Eh. She was alright. Better than nothing though." he shrugged, pulling out a buffer from subspace as he sat down on the couch.

That didn't answer Sideswipe's question though.

Why had he dreamt of the day they got out of the Pits?


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello my lovely lads! It's been some time. I finally have finished all exams and am in my next semester so I'm hoping that I'll be updating more frequently now :) I honestly hope you guys enjoyed this because I love - LOVE - writing this story. I could do it for hours upon hours and days upon days. This story is my favourite so far, by far.**

 **I hope you guys enjoy it, and please don't forget to review!**

 **DISCLAIMER: I can not believe I forgot this in the last chapter, I don't know what is with me. Mythic (the new femme character introduced in the last chapter and will be in chapters from here on out) is _MY_ own character. I cam up with her, her plot, and her name. She is 100% mine.**

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Laceburner groaned as she woke up, her joints feeling unoiled, her armor feeling infinitely heavier, and her head pounding so loudly you would think Grimlock had stomped on it, laid down on it, then kicked it as he ran off. She - with much effort - pushed herself over on to her back, taking a deep breath in before opening her eyes. Everything **looked** fine.

Until she stood up.

Then, the world around her spun like a bowling ball barreling down the lane. She lost her balance and stumbled back, tripping over her own feet, her back slamming against the side of the bed as she fell to the ground, her stomach churning furiously.

"Oh god." she groaned, grabbing hold of her head.

 _ ***(* Ratchet! *)***_ she sent over the public comm links, the only thing she could pull up without a scream-splitting pain searing through her brain.

There was an almost stunned silence for a second, obviously everybody being surprised she'd used it; all that did was make things worse. It made her more anxious, and ten times more nervous. She began panicking as she lost her peripheral vision, making it look like a tunnel. Where was the voice?

 _{:: Laceburner?! Laceburner, what's wrong? ::}_

She groaned, unable to respond or do anything else, as her head pounded again, then the comm link seemed to... explode as it disappeared; she groaned as the pain pulsed through her head once again.

She finally managed to shove herself off the ground again, but the world around her gyrated again and she placed her hand on the wall to steady herself, which ended up not working. But she needed to get off the wall and over to the door, so she used the limited strength she could muster up to push herself off the wall, in the direction of the couch. Her feet stumbled, one in front of the other, and just before she could reach the couch, she rolled her right ankle and her left foot got caught around it, causing her to go tumbling forward. She lost her balance and center of gravity, spinning in a circle before the back of her hips hit the back of the couch, her momentum sending her over the large piece of furniture. She landed on her back, then folded over herself and landed on the ground, her legs landing on the coffee table. The sound of wood cracking resonated throughout the room as the weight of her frame, as well as the force of her momentum, caused the robot-sized oak coffee table to snap practically in half, leaving Laceburner laying there in a folded over mess on the floor, writhing in pain.

The door banged open, the lock snapping in half, the latch breaking off and landing on the floor with a _'clang'_ that made her audios ring louder.

Jazz walked in, his visor it's normal Autobot blue mixed with black as he looked around the room. His optics ran over the empty berth, the four pillows thrown all over the bed, the blanket strewn half on the bed, half hanging off. There was a hole in the wall from where Laceburner's servo had slammed into the wall to balance herself, before his optics finally landed on the folded up, shaking mess of black armor, her legs bent over her torso, covered in splinters of wood.

"I got 'er." he said aloud, obviously over a comm link.

She felt a hand on her shoulder as the other began pulling the remains of the coffee table off of her.

"Hey Lacey, i's me, Jazz. I'm gonna get ya to the Med Bay." he said, throwing the pieces of wood off of her, not watching them as they landed in front of the doorway to the bathroom.

He slipped his arms underneath her, picking her up off the ground. "I got ya, Lacey."

She groaned at his touch; it was hot, like someone set his hand on fire then made him touch her, and it made her head pound even more. If that was possible.

"We're comin' Ratch." Jazz said aloud as he walked out of the room.

Laceburner groaned again, feeling like she was about to throw up everything she'd ever digested.

"It's okay Lacey, it's probably justa bug." he said lowly. His chest vibrated in an attempt to help her, but it didn't help her. If anything, it worked in the opposite way, and her head pounded again. A tear escaped her eye, and rolled down her cheek and onto the floor.

The doors of the Med Bay slid open, and Jazz placed her on a bed carefully.

"Couldn't figure it out." he said lightly.

She groaned, tossing around as her joints creaked, feeling rusted through and old.

A tingle ran through her, and when she shivered her head felt like it was being slammed against a wall.

 _Where_ was the **voice**? It was never gone for this long at a time, especially when she was looking for it.

Something broke a vein in her arm, sending pain throughout her nervous system, and she cried out in pain.

"It's alright, Lacey. It was justa needle. Pain relievers." Jazz said.

She groaned again, and a blanket was placed over her. She tossed around in an attempt to get it off.

"Laceburner, it's either this or more armor. So lay there under the blanket and don't throw it- no don't!"

He sighed soon after as the black femme tossed around again, then grabbed the blanket-cover and literally threw it off of her with a cry of obvious pain.

"What's wrong with 'er, Ratchet?" Jazz asked.

"I should've seen it before." Ratchet mumbled angrily, cussing himself out for his lack of attention to detail. "Laceburner had no advanced firewalls. She had the basics that kept her safe back home, but on Earth the viruses e can contract are much, much more complicated. Her firewalls were able to hold them off long enough that had I been paying **attention** I could've upgraded her internal defense systems in time."

"So it's a virus? Is it bad?" Jazz sat down on the berth beside her, watching as she tossed around again.

Ratchet walked back over, picking up the blanket from the floor.

"Femme, lay down under the blanket or I will magnetize you to the berth." Ratchet grumbled, covering

her with the blanket again.

She groaned.

"Femme, you need it to keep your vents from over-chilling your joints. If that happens you won't be able to **move**." Ratchet said a little louder.

The incoherent Laceburner, thinking of nothing other than the pain she was in, moaned in pain and turned over as well as she could.

Ratchet tucked the blanket underneath her to keep her in there, and he heard her cooling vents stutter, before turning off. At least now her own frame wouldn't kill her by freezing itself.

"Will she be okay?" Jazz asked as he stood up.

"For the next day and a half, two days, no. She'll be in pain and incoherent, more or less, but I'll be administering antivirals into her system. That'll help diminish the virus, and she'll be back to her normal, shy self in three to four days." Ratchet assured.

He nodded. "Okay. I gotta head, Ironhide's scarin' the scrap out of the new recruits and who do we send to fix that? Me, that's who." he sighed as he left the Med Bay and the door closed behind him.

Ratchet walked over and closed the blinds of the window, dimming the lights to the point where if he dimmed them any lower he wouldn't be able to see his work, but Laceburner needed recharge so that her frame, along with the anti-virals he'd administered, could begin fighting, and lights and noise wouldn't help that. The sedative would help knock her out soon too.

He returned to his spot in front of the table, his tools sitting where they left him. Laceburner let out one final groan before he heard her oxygen intakes cycle and she finally fell into recharge.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Red and black armor scattered around the cement floor of the training room as one of Optimus Prime's best frontliners went scattered across the floor, in the opposite direction of where his Weapon's Specialist stood defensively, waiting for the young mech to get back up and charge him.

A large servo punched into the ground as the red mech stood up and his blades slid out from their secure compartments.

A few of the on-looking humans drew in a sharp breath, a few others gasped loudly, the majority of them just widened their eyes in fear. Who wouldn't? An eighteen foot metal robot-like being just slid two massive swords from his wrists, a sneer upon his face as his engine quite literally made a _snarling_ sound.

He tightened his hands into fists as he ran at Ironhide, who managed to dodge his initial attack. Sideswipe swung his sword around, only for it to be met with a defensive block. Ironhide knocked his arm away, his fist moving to connect with Sideswipe's face. The red mech leaned back and the black just barely missed his face. Sideswipe was much more balanced, and he jumped in the air, kicking Ironhide in the face.

The massive mech stepped back to catch his balance, leaving Sideswipe able to kick one of his blasters off his arm. The Weapons Specialist growled at him, his protective nature over the massive cannons peeking through.

"Ironhide, enough." Optimus's voice rang throughout the training room.

The large black mech faltered for a second, his fist raising up to punch Sideswipe, but just before the blow could be dealt, Sideswipe lifted a hand to grab his fist and keep it away from his face.

Then Ironhide registered Optimus's word and pulled his arm free as he backed away.

"My **paint**." Sideswipe groaned under his breath.

There was a giggle and he looked up with a smirk, connecting optics with a light blue painted Mythic who stood beside Sunstreaker. The larger twin had his arms crossed, doing his best to not grimace. Whether they were fragging her or not, Mythic was close enough to scuff his paint, and Sunstreaker was making it painfully obvious he was worried that she'd ruin his finish.

He winked as she giggled again.

"Thank you, you two." Prowl nodded at both of them.

Ironhide went to stand beside Optimus and Chromia, and Sideswipe abandonned the training mat to stand beside his twin.

 _{:: Good job, Hot Stuff. ::}_ Mythic sent over a private comm.

Sideswipe smirked, but didn't respond as the training room doors opened and Ratchet walked in, dragging Mudflap and Skids by the audios behind him.

He dropped them in front of Optimus. "I caught them tampering with my equipment while I was working in my office."

Optimus sighed. "Ratchet, was that really so bad that they're taking an interest in the medical fi-"

"The equipment was **in use**. They had pulled it out of my patient's main energon line, where it _had_ to be connected, and were attempting to put it back in, hoping I wouldn't notice. They injured my patient further than her previous state. Deal with it."

Optimus raised an eyebrow, glaring holes into their helms, which were lowered in embarrassment.

"Who did they injure?" he acquired.

"Lacey." Jazz said from his spot between Chromia and Arcee. "Ratchet had me bring 'er in."

"Yes. Laceburner caught a minor virus, so I was keeping her in my Bay until she healed. I now have to keep her there for an extra two to three days to repair her energon lines, which are practically in ruins. She lost ten percent of her energon from the leakings. They are a nuissance and will not be allowed into my Med Bay without injury soon." Ratchet snapped, turning and storming out.

"Who's Laceburner?" Mythic asked.

"Another femme. She has been here for about eight or nine months." Optimus answered monotonely.

"Really, another femme? The number is starting to even." Mythic smiled.

Arcee laughed. "Exactly."

"Alright, next we're doing hand to hand combat between a human and one of us. Robert Epps, you will be helping us." Prowl ordered.

The bald headed male human sighed. "Always me, why **always** me?"

Jazz snorted as he stood up. The two were always paired together in training. When he was first brought back, Jazz had been assigned guardian duty over Robert Epps and his wife and children for about three and a half weeks after Starscream had been spotted in the area. Since then, the two had gotten close. Not nearly as close as Ironhide was to the Lennoxs, but Robert's children were starting to recognize his alt mode whenever he pulled in to drop the soldier off at home. Shaleeka and Mozambiqua were the least fond of him, and both still refused to got near him, but Shareeka and Shaniqua had no problem getting close to him. His only son, Fred, was the only one willing and comfortable crawling inside and go for a ride however. His wife, Monique, was still wary, but not completely uncomfortable anymore. Plus, the man was comfortable working with him because he was the shortest mech fo the group; as he joked often, if he did fall from Jazz's shoulders, at least the fall to his death would be short.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

"Morning Laceburner."

The black painted femme groaned in response to whoever adressed her. She had an arm thrown over her head to block the light out, as well as keep her head warm. Her legs and her head had been colder than she ever thought possible, while her torso was hotter than a steam train on fire. This meant she couldn't have a blanket pulled all the way up. Her improvision seemed to be working fine however, with the blanket covering her legs up to her hips, while her torso remained bare, covered in nothing but her armor. Her arm was busy keeping her head warm.

"Can I look at your patching?"

It must have been Ratchet, especially when she heard the rough undertone in his voice, so she moved her other arm out from under her helm.

Yesterday, she'd been taking a nap and woke up to the feeling of.. dying, practically. It wasn't until she opened her eyes to see those twins there... Mud.. something and his twin. She was covered in what looked like energon, and there was an immense amount of pain originating from her arms. Once it registered with her that they were stabbing her, she screamed. Screamed like she never had before.

It scared the two of them, and Ratchet came from his office, only to lock eyes with them. Then, he magnetized the both of them down to a bed and patched her up. She wound up passing out again, he says due to the loss of energon in her systems. When she woke back up she felt like she'd been thrown against two walls, and laid there while they got closer and closer before squishing her; soon after, she was slingshotted over into a volcano and stomped on by Grimlock and Slug's feet.

Ratchet removed her arm armor and placed it beside her on the bed, and she felt him unwrapping the patch that he'd put on her arm to help stop the bleeding. The protoform underneath was still fairly raw and sensitive from the needle stabbing her so many times, but the pain had worn off and was replaced with a slight sting instead.

"It's still healing. Those fraggers did more damage than I thought they did. More damage than they've ever done to any Decepticon for us." He mumbled that last part under his breath, obviously not meaning for her to hear it, but she did anyways.

She moaned again as something chilled was and gooey was placed on her arm and smeared around over the sensitive area of her arm.

 _ **Watch for what he's putting on-**_

 _Oh_ _shut up_ _._ she yelled in her head.

The virus she'd contracted had put some sort of.. block between her and the voice, which had both her and the voice panicking at the inability to contact each other. All it did was make Ratchet more curious and confused.

However, when she finally returned, so far it had just been annoying and nagging more than helpful. Maybe it was because she still felt sick and ready to throw up; maybe it was because the voice was in pain and just got naggy whenever it was in pain. Was it even possible for the voice to be in pain? Well, if it was simply a figment of her imagination, then yeah it would be logical for the voice to be quote on quote, "in pain".

Maybe she was just finally developing some guts and standing up for herself.

No, that wasn't it. Even with her extended comfort from her original appearance, she was still fairly shy and didn't often do something that required even a trace of bravery. To anybody.

The muscle in her arm twitched.

"Just me. I've got to reapply the bandage and rewrap your arm."

She stayed silent as Ratchet continued working, a pulsing feeling coming from her arm every fifteen or twenty seconds but her eyes stayed shut as she groaned.

 _ **What's he doing?**_

 _I don't have a care in the world right now, you make my brain hurt, shut up._ she groaned in her head.

"The voice?"

It took her a second to realize it was Ratchet talking to her, so she groaned out a yes in response to his question.

"Don't fret about anything, I'm simply applying a cream to help your frame's self-repairing nanites with the healing process. I double wrapped your arm that way the planet's oxygen won't pierce your frame and oxidize the things underneath." he explained.

The voice settled down a little in her head, not saying anything else, but didn't feel totally comfortable.

 _{:: Hey Lace. ::}_

She groaned out at the sudden joint comm that Mirage sent her. _{:: What? ::}_

Mirage chuckled. _{:: Sorry, we didn't mean to bug you Lace. The mechs and I just wanted to say hope you feel better. Hot Rod's thinkin' of you 'cause we're playing video games. ::}_

 _{:: Get better Lace. ::}_ Hot Rod said, _{:: We miss you. ::}_

She grunted at them again and the comm disappeared, leaving her alone with Ratchet in the room.

The two of them remained quiet as Ratchet finished working, which took longer than expected when Bluestreak walked in with an injury of some kind.

Everything was fine, and even nice and quiet, until the door opened and Laceburner heard a familiar laugh come barging in.

"For the love of the ever Holy Primus, **what** do you _want_ Sideswipe?" Ratchet asked.

Sideswipe laughed again. "Come on Hatchet, we-

"Sideswipe! Shut up!

"Wh-"

"Because I said so! We need quiet in here right now."

She heard Sideswipe begin to say something, but a loud clang stopped him.

"She's why, idiot."

Laceburner groaned at the volume she was hearing and the way it made her head pound, like her head was a church bell and it was ringing to remind everyone that it was lunch time.

 _ **Can we just cut their vocal cords out?**_ the voice asked.

 _Shut up before I stab myself in the head to shut you up._

She heard the chair beside her berth scrape against the ground, and almost yelled out in pain at the sound.

"Is this Laceburner? The new femme?" a light voice said.

"Technically, you're the new femme. But yes, this is Laceburner."

"What happened to her?" the femme asked.

"Her firewalls weren't strong enough to last against Earth viruses for a long amount of time, so she contracted something. She'll recover within a few days." Ratchet said.

Laceburner groaned. "Mm, shut _**up!**_ "

"'Pologies."

After that, Ratchet went silent. Laceburner tossed and turned for a little bit, unable to find a comfortable position on the Med berth.

Something she never managed to find. These berths were the **worst**.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

 **Voila! I say that a lot at the end of chapters XD I hope you guys liked it and I'll "see" you guys in the next chapter :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey everybody! So I've been on a RW kick lately, and I wrote 20 whole chapters before realising I hadn't even updated you guys with number 12 yet, so here ya go haha!**

 **Also, just so you guys know, this is the longest chapter I've ever written - longer than even the pilot chapter XD. I didn't mean to, I just coULDN'T STOP WRITING! And I couldn't really find a place to end it either, so I just kept going. I hope you guys enjoy this, because I worked hard on it. Enjoy and don't forget to review!**

The bed springs groaned.

Laceburner felt her consciousness come around.

Laceburner woke up with a red arm was draped over her torso, a strongly built frame laying behind her own, towering over her as if to protect her from whatever might potentially walk through that door and come over. Whoever it happened to be was sleeping deeply, his breaths even and rythmic, her chest rising and falling in time with his. The muscles on the arm that was draped over her twitched suddenly on his bicep.

The strangest part, however, was the lack of panic. She wasn't scared or nervous, and the voice seemed to be the calmest with the whole thing that it had **ever** been. That had to be the weirdest part of this _whole thing_. But she didn't want to wake him. Maybe she could try and slip out of his grasp without waking him.

"Mm, Lace?" a deep, tired voice asked.

She winced; she hadn't meant to wake him up.

"You okay?" he asked. "You woke up screaming earlier."

 _ **Nightmare.**_ the voice guessed; it sounded like it had just woken up too.

"Thanks." she mumbled, moving her head around.

"Nightmare?" he asked sleepily. "You were pretty shaken."

She mumbled something nonsensical, burying her face further into the pillow before realizing she was resting her head on his other bicep. She groaned again, shuffling downwards so that her head landed on the pillow instead.

"Sorry." she groaned out.

"S'fine." he mumbled.

With another groan, she turned over with a kick of her feet. He wrapped his arms around her tighter and she tucked her head under his chin. He took a deep breath in, his chest expanding lightly and she fell back asleep.

It wasn't for another few hours until something moving on the bed woke her up. She groaned out a questioning sound.

"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you. I'm on patrol shift." he said.

"Mm, enjoy. You playin games later?"

"Mhm." he nodded as he stood up, stretching his back. "See you then."

She groaned and heard the door slide open. "Hey!"

The red mech stopped, turning to look at her.

She flopped over in the bed, and gave him a tired smile. "Thanks Mirage."

With one last smile, he left and the door closed behind him

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

"Mother **frag** it."

Laceburner laughed as Mirage swore angrily when Hot Rod managed to kill his character on the screen yet again. Hot Rod laughed and raised a hand, and Laceburner leaned forward ever so slightly to high five.

"Wha- Lace!" Mirage whined.

 _ **Not our fault you suck at video games.**_

The black painted femme laid back down, her head resting against Mirage's thigh again.

"Sorry, but it's funny." she smiled.

He scoffed. "I see how it is Lace. That hurts."

She smiled sheepishly, turning her head back over to look at the TV. In the weeks that had past, she'd grown much more comfortable around Mirage and Hot Rod. They were both easy to get along with and good friends. It helped that the voice had no objections to either of them as well.

Hot Rod reminded her of someone too.

The only problem was she couldn't quite pinpoint who exactly it was, but the personality was comforting to her in a sense.

She was not really sure why.

The door hissed open suddenly, catching the attention of Hot Rod and Laceburner, and Mirage used the opportunity to gain a kill over Hot Rod.

"Ha! Motherfragger!"

 _ **Took him long enough.**_

"No!"

Mirage smirked, and Laceburner shifted to get just a little more comfortable. Hot Rod dropped a hand to rub her ankle as if out of habit.

The action seemed familiar to her.

It made her take a deep sigh in again and melt down into the couch. Mirage chuckled as her eyes fluttered. That was until someone came laughing into the rec room.

A cherry came capering in, a smile upon his face. He was looking at the femme who followed him, but the smile dropped off his face when his eyes landed on the three bots on the couch.

"Hi." the femme perked up.

Mirage looked over with a tight smile. "Hi Mythic."

Oh! So that was Mythic

Hot Rod didn't acknowledge the presence of either of them, and managed to even get another kill over Mirage, who swore in a foreign language she didn't recognize.

 _ **It's**_ _ **Cybertronian**_ _ **! I've told you that before.**_

Had she been alone, she would've huffed and rolled her eyes. She'd been practicing her Cybertronian, but it was larger and more complicated and complex than any other Earth language. She could understand some things, but ninety nine percent of it was still just jibberish to her.

It's not like she didn't want to understand what they were saying.

The one thing she wanted more than anything was to be able to remember, that included the language.

But for now she was stuck like this.

It truly did suck.

"Sides, would you-"

Sunstreaker froze in the doorway when his optics landed on Laceburner laying with Hot Rod and Mirage on the couch. His engine, for a reason he couldn't think of an answer to, growled a little bit and he clenched his fist.

Why was he reacting like that?

"No!" Mirage roared, and Laceburner's light giggle filled the room.

Hot Rod raised a servo again, and Laceburner leaned forward slightly to high five him again.

"What are you guys playing?" Mythic asked.

Neither Mirage nor Hot Rod made any sort of move to answer her, so Laceburner looked up at her.

"T-They're playing a video game called H-Halo? Halo." she answered. "It's their favourite."

Sideswipe narrowed his optics as she looked away - how did she know it was their favourite? That would mean she had spent a lot of time with them.

"Mechs! Haha, you gettin' your aft handed to ya again Mirage?" Jazz asked as he entered the room.

Laceburner giggled as the red mech grumbled, and the saboteur passed the twins and Mythic in favour for sitting on the loveseat.

"Ya look comfy Lacey." Jazz chuckled.

She smiled over at him minutely with a sheepish look.

It made Sideswipe's armor crawl. She was supposed to be **their** friend. They were the ones she was close with, not Mirage. _They_ were the ones she spent most of her waking hours with, not Hot Rod.

 **Them**.

Not Mirage.

Not Hot Rod.

Them.

Mythic was the one who walked forward and sat on the middle cushion of the three person couch. Sideswipe eyed Mirage and Hot Rod again for another second or so, looked over Laceburner's frame which was relaxed, her helm on Mirage's thigh while her feet peds were propped on Hot Rod's lap, before following her in suit, sitting to her left.

Sunstreaker, however, stayed where he was and full out watched her. Why was he so displeased with this whole thing? It was just Laceburner hanging with Mirage and Hot Rod. Nothing else.

Right?

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Laceburner sat beside Bumblebee in alt mode. Behind her sat Jazz in his alt. Mirage was behind Bumblebee in alt mode. Ironhide sat behind Mirage and Optimus Prime sat behind Jazz.

Playfully, Bumblebee revved his engine and turned his wheels towards her. She would have smiled and laughed, but instead revved her engine in retaliation. Her engine snarled louder than his so she eased up.

 _ ***(* You're a lil' show off, Lacey. *)***_ Jazz laughed over public comm link.

 _ ***(* Focus 'bots. *)***_ Optimus Prime's voice rang out through the link as the light turned green.

Bumblebee jerked forward, and Laceburner almost smirked at the challenge offered. She followed suit, accelerating her speed to give the advantage by just a touch. Bumblebee took the lead again, his hood ahead of hers by the length of her nose. She moved forward faster, leaving him a whole two car lengths behind her, but he caught up quickly as they sped through another set of taffic lights.

 _ ***(* Bots, be safe. This is not an emergency mission, we do not have to be there right away. *)***_ Optimus Prime ordered, even though he knew full well that they were just messing around.

Laceburner slowed down first and Bumblebee followed suit.

 _ ***(* I'd say Lace won that one. *)***_ Jazz said.

 _ ***(* I'd say the same except I'm pretty sure Bee took that one by just a**_ _little_ _ **bit. *)***_ Mirage countered.

 _ ***(* N'aw man. Lace won that one. Tell 'im 'Hide. *)***_

Ironhide snorted. _***(* Don't involve me in this. *)***_

 _ ***(* Oh come on you ol- *)***_

 _ ***(* Laceburner took that one by two and a half centimetres. *)***_ Optimus interupted.

 _ ***(* AHA! *)***_ Jazz exclaimed, sounding like he was smiling.

 _ ***(* You always right, Jazz? *)***_ Mirage asked.

 _ ***(* Yeah. Pretty much. Hangin' with Prowl helps a lot too. *)***_ he said.

 _ ***(* Focus. *)***_ Optimus Prime rumbled again, a little more stern than last time.

Laceburner took the lead as Bumblebee slowed and fell into line behind her, and she turned down a road.

 _ ***(* Okay so what are we lookin' for Boss Bot? *)***_ Jazz asked.

 _ ***(* Major Lennox was informed of an Energon dectector being triggered, but it was soon after shut off. We're going to have Laceburner scout the area first, then we'll reset it. *)***_ he explained.

 _ ***(* Okay, *)***_ Mirage said. _***(* So then why are there so many of u-**_ _ **Laceburner, look out!**_ _ ***)***_

A jet up in the sky flew down and something that looked like a missle whizzed down towards her. Behind her, Bumblebee slammed on his brakes, and she was about to follow suit when something happened.

 _ **Hold on!**_ the voice said, then suddenly she wasn't in control. But she could see. Normally when the voice took over she lost consciousness completely, but this time was weird. Like an actual shared body.

She sped up quickly, her engine growling loudly. The missle past over her, and unlike what the voice expected, it turned and followed her.

 _ **Slag it.**_ she snarled.

 _If you know what you're gonna do, you better do it._

 _ **Shut up, I'm going.**_

The voice accelerated her, the wheels speeding up and she slid around another corner.

 _ ***(* Laceburner, Starscream's missle is aimed for you and is still locked on your location. Try to avoid it for as long as possible while we come up with a plan, and please do your best to avoid civilization just in case. *)***_ Optimus Prime said.

 _ ***(* Copy. *)***_ she sent back.

 _ ***(* Lace,**_ _ **please**_ _ **be careful. *)***_ Mirage stressed.

 _ ***(* I've got it. *)***_ she sent back.

She sped around another corner, a human screaming, and it followed her.

 _ **Swear to Primus, if those group of idiots don't hurry up, I'm sacrificing some of these humans.**_ the voice grumbled bitterly as she spun around another turn. No matter how hard she tried, it was locked on her.

Off in the distance, there was a resounding boom.

Suddenly, up in the sky something screamed and she looked up in time to see the jet flying down towards her. She skidded to an almost stop, then quickly turned down an alleyway to her right.

There was a panicked yell behind her as th sound of thrusters hurt her ears, then suddenly her radar show the missle wasn't behind her.

 _ **It isn't gone, it just couldn't make the turn 'cos it was too tight. It's still looking for us.**_ the voice said. _**Can you take over for now?**_

 _Yeah, I got it._

Laceburner felt herself suddenly have control just as she plowed through trash cans on the sidewalk, and she turned to follow the flow of traffic, doing her best to ignore the honks directed at her.

 _Come on, come on, think._ she growled to herself when her radar picked it back up.

 _ ***(* Lace? You still there? *)***_

 _ ***(* Yes, what? *)***_

 _ ***(* Can you see it still? *)***_ Mirage asked.

 _ ***(* No, but my radar has it. *)***_

 _ ***(* Is it still going for you? *)***_

She swerved around a couple of cars, through a red light, and out of the city and down a back highway, speeding past a sign that said **Speed Limit 65 mph**. She was going 125. _***(* I wouldn't have just almost crashed if it wasn't. *)***_ she pointed out.

 _ ***(* Slag it. *)***_

Just as he finished his curse, the jet - who she now assumed was Starscream - descended from the clouds and headed towards her.

 _ **You gotta transform.**_

 _What?_

 _ **That or lose him!**_

 _How am I supposed to do that?_

 _ **In there! He'll have a hard time flying around the trees and you'll have the advantage. You'll lose the pain in the ass behind you too. Go.**_

With a growl and a rev of her engine, she slammed on her brakes and turned off road and into the forest.

 _ **Ugh, this is gonna kill your under carriage.**_

Laceburner groaned as something behind her suddenly exploded, sending her flying. She transformed mid air to avoid getting too damaged.

 _ ***(* Laceburner! Send us your cooridinates! *)***_ Optimus Prime ordered.

She landed on her back and rolled on the ground in a mess of metal limbs until managing to stop herself. She pushed herself oof the ground with a groan and took in her surroundings, but it was hard for her to make heads or tails of anything when all she could see was trees and her vision spun.

 _ ***(* Laceburner! Location! *)***_

She sent her coordinates quickly.

 _ ***(* We're coming. See if you can make it back to that main road. *)***_ Ironhide ordered.

 _ ***(* Yes sir *)***_ she sent back, and began walking.

Her hip whirred and her HUD was filled with warning signs about something or other, which she had to ignore in order to keep walking, but she could see it.

Her hip was leaking energon from a ripped energon line.

She clenched her teeth in pain and hissed. Her hand wrapped around a thin tree trunk and it surprised her when she snapped it in half.

Just as she reached the main road, something boome as a jet descended from the clouds again and transformed in front of her. He landed in front of her and his eye connected with hers. The only difference was the color.

They were red.

Like, a highlighted, bright red that sparkled against his dark grey armor.

They were... beautiful.

He laughed, an evil laugh that sent chills down her spine, and a feeling of anger ran through her.

"How ya doin'?" he asked, his voice an almost annoying pitch.

She furrowed her brow. "Do I know you?"

He raised an eyebrow, and his mouth opened excitedly. "You don't remember me?"

She furrowed her brow further. "What?"

"Oh boy! This is..." he trailed off with a smile. "How is it that you **don't** remember me. That can only mean..." he trailed off, but his face got even more excited, and he took a step towards her.

She took a step back.

He raised his hands. "Come on now. Just some fun, is all."

 _ **Take him down.**_

 _How?_

 _ **The others are almost here. When he gets close enough, get him to the ground and put him in a sitting choke hold.**_

 _Yeah? How am I supposed to sit on him when he's bigger._

 _ **Then get him to the ground. That will give us the advantage.**_

 _How am I suppos-_

Just as she was about to question how, she let her instincts kick in and immediately picked up a weakness.

He was fairly solid, but the problem was he was top heavy. His legs were too small compared to his torso, so he wouldn't have enough balance to save himself from falling.

He got closer, but this time she didn't take a step back.

"You really don't remember me?" he smiled as he got closer.

She shook her head.

He smiled wider. "That means it worked."

Her eyes got wide.

 _ **Focus. They're Decepticons, he's probably just doing it to throw you off your focus.**_

"You can't remember me, that means **it worked.** "

 _ **Now!**_

She jumped to the right slightly, landing on her hands and kicked his legs hard out from underneath him.

He gave a cry as he fell forward and she sommersaulted onto her feet.

That was when she saw the flamed Peterbilt slide to a stop and transform into Optimus Prime.

 _ ***(* She's here, I need all back up here. *)***_

 _ ***(* Copy, we're coming. *)***_

That was also when her hip snapped and gave out, and she fell to the ground.

Starscream laughed as he stood up and towered over her.

Then something hit his shoulder. He yelled out in pain again, looking over to see Optimus Prime runnning towards him, his gun up.

Starscream looked back down at her. "At least it worked."

He laughed quickly once, then cried out as something managed to his leg. Quickly, he turned and transformed into the air.

 _ ***(* Mirage! Bumblebee! Halt! *)***_ Ironhide yelled.

Starscream turned in the air and flew back towards them. Mirage, the first in line, transformed up and jumped into the air, grabbing hold of Starscream's wings. In an attempt to get him off, the jet spun in circles.

It worked.

Mirage let go and fell off the jet only to go crashing into Bumblebee, who had transformed as well.

With that, he turned and shot up into the sky quickly followed by the bullets Ironhide was shooting after him, and used the safety of the clouds to lose them.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Ironhide continued to give Bumblebee and Mirage the evil eye for not listening, even after getting back to the base. Their little stunt had landed them both in the Med Bay beside Laceburner, although she was the only one who couldn't walk out of that fight. She ended up having to transform down and ride back to base in Optimus Prime's trailer. She couldn't even move her leg, so Optimus and Ironhide ended up having to push her alt mode into the trailer using their holoforms. That had been painful.

Not as painful as transforming up though, but Ratchet had been there to help her stand up and even placed her on the berth so she wouldn't have to walk.

She was still curious as to what that... Starscream had meant when he said "it worked". What had worked? How did she even know him?

"Laceburner?"

She looked over at the Med Bay door. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe stood there looking at her.

"H-Hi." She said, waving slightly.

A scowl implanted itself on Sunstreaker's face and Sideswipe lost his smile.

"What happened?"

She shrugged. "Just a little mishap."

"Mishap named Starscream. Next time I see him I'll disassemble him piece by slagging piece." Mirage grumbled from the bed across from hers.

She almost giggled at his obviously foul mood and Bumblebee whirred in agreement with Mirage.

"Take that... screaming star... apart... piece by... pathetic... piece." He pieced his response together then scowled with a cross of his arms.

Laceburner giggled again at the two of them.

"Maybe if you two had listened to Ironhide, you wouldn't be here." She responded.

Mirage scoffed and continued to frown mostly, but the corners of his lips tilted upwards a little. He looked at her out of the corners of his eyes and crossed his arms with a fake huff. She giggled at him again.

"Wait, you went on a mission? When?" Sideswipe asked.

"Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, what can I do for you two?" Ratchet asked as he walked out, leaving Sideswipe's question unasnwered as he grabbed hold of something on the counter.

"You called us in for a check up, remember?" Sunstreaker asked bitterly.

Ratchet only made a grumble like sound. "Where's Mythic?"

Sunstreaker scoffed. "She's on comms duty right now, then going for training right after."

"Besides you asked to come for a check up." Sideswipe pointed out.

Ratchet sighed. "I called you in three hours ago, when my Med Bay **wasn't** full of injured bots coming back from their mission."

"What happened?" Sideswipe asked.

"Why?" Mirage asked bitterly.

 _{:: Raj. ::}_ Laceburner said warningly over a private comm.

The red mech scoffed, but let it go and looked away from the group.

"Star... screamer... came into the picture while... little Lacey... was doin'... a scout." Bumblebee answered.

"Starscream?" Sideswipe asked.

"Yeah, but Lace handled it. Took care of the missile and even brought him away from civilization so that Optimus could scare him off." Mirage said harshly towards the crimson coloured bot.

Sunstreaker suddenly revved his engine loudly, obviously taking offense to Mirage's lack of respect towards his brother, looking over at him. Laceburner furrowed her brow, and Mirage's response was to rev his own engine louder.

Of course, that started a testosterone fuelled inability to lose to each other.

Finally the sound of engines revving became too much for Laceburner to sit in the Med Bay comfortably with it. So instead she revved her engine loudly.

Like, really loudly.

Louder than the two of them.

Both of them stopped abruptly and looked over at her.

She connected optics with Mirage and glared at him until he looked away.

Then she looked over at Sunstreaker with a glare.

"Both of you, please be quiet." She said in a quiet voice.

Ratchet walked over to her side with a smirk on his face, and looked up at Sunstreaker, who bore a confused look on his face.

"Arm." He commanded, and Laceburner complied.

He plucked a few things, reattached a few energon lines back together and put a few new nuts and bolts in to their right places, then moved on to her leg, which was the major injury.

"This is because of Starscream, correct?" He asked.

She nodded. "His missile hit a tree and exploded, but I was too close so it sent me flying. I landed wrong and something snapped." She answered.

He nodded. "Well, you managed to completely rupture three energon lines and dent the main energon vein, plus you snapped the rotating hip joint practically in half - you're lucky you only fractured but didn't break your hip **servo** , you wouldn't have a working leg anymore - and you somehow managed to break the suspensory pressure spring in your right leg. That probably wouldn't have happened if you hadn't walked to the main road and kept pressure off of it."

She furrowed her brow. "S-So what does that mean?"

He smiled at her - unbeknownst to her because of her lack of fear in her question. She'd come quite a ways since she first got here - and chuckled.

"It means no more walking for you for a little while. At least long enough for your reparation nanites to fix it. It also means no more work for you."

She gave him a disappointed look. "But I'm not moving when I'm working, I'm in a chair. Can't I still at least-"

"No Laceburner. No working. Not for at least 2 months. Prowl can handle himself perfectly fine." He said firmly. "Stay here while I get a replacement hip joint to install."

Her engine whirred disappointedly.

"Wait, work?" Sideswipe asked.

"Yeah. Work. You know, like a _job_." Mirage grumbled as he stood up. First Aid waved him off now that he was finished.

"Since when do you work?" Sideswipe asked.

She blushed. "F-For a few weeks now." She answered.

He furrowed his brow. "Doing what? I didn't see you on any of the patrol shifts."

"That's because... she don't do any... of the regular stuff. She works with... a Prowler.. and the Jazz-man." Bumblebee answered for them.

Sideswipe's mouth hung open slightly, as if trying to find something to say but failing to do so.

"If you two insist on being in here for a check up Ratchet called for **hours** ago, please at least sit down." First Aid murmured somewhat bitterly, obviously tired from all the work they'd come back with for them.

"Scoot Lace." Mirage said.

The black femme smiled and pushed over on the berth to make enough room for him. He climbed up beside her.

The Med Bay doors opened and Hot Rod walked in beside Arcee. "Heard my Lacey Lady managed to avoid Screamer's missile and even took him down." He yelled loudly as he entered and looked over to smile at her.

She giggled.

"Yeah she did. Pretty bad aft too. Didn't know she had it in her." Mirage teased, nudging her playfully.

Heat rushed to her cheeks again and she ducked her head as Hot Rod sat by her knee.

"Good job Laceburner." Arcee smiled at her, sitting on the end of her bed.

"Arcee," Ratchet called. "Come. System calibration check."

The small femme followed him into the other room and Hot Rod looked over at Laceburner once he lost sight of Arcee.

""Hey Lace, be proud of that." He smiled, nudging her good knee.

"I didn't get my first hit on the aft hole until my fifth mission out. You got him on your second." Mirage pointed out.

She smiled again. "Third, you crimson doofus. Optimus had me run a scouting mission with Bee two weeks ago, remember?" She teased back.

He chuckled. "My apologies ma'am."

She rolled her optics at him as he laid his arm around the back of her shoulders and leaned back against the wall.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Mirage wasn't expecting it; he was trudging along on his way back to his room after a killer patrol shift - then again nobody liked working with Skids and Mudflap on patrol. They never listened and basically left you doing all the work by yourself - when something collided with his side. Whatever it was slammed him into the wall. He growled as his engine revved and his helm snaped back like the end of a whip, his neck cables popping when his head slammed against the wall. Whoever had immobilized him against the wall let off a snarl, a freshly sharpened blade pressed steadily against his neck.

It brought him back to his trainings in the Towers, especially when he was younger and smaller, and his trainers used to toss him around like a bug. Intreped had always been the worst for doing that to him.

He slipped his optics open and they connected with a deep blue set that were narrowed on his face.

Sunstreaker.

Sideswipe stood behind him, a glare similar to the one on Sunstreaker's face painted over his own.

His engine growled at the sight of their faces, and he sneered.

"What?"

The yellow colored mech snarled, baring his dentas angrily. "Back off from Laceburner."

For a reason unknown to him and without an explanation that he could come up with, a snarl ripped from his vocal chords.

"Why should I? It's not like you two pay attention to her anymore." he challenged.

Sideswipe narrowed his optics. "We p-"

"You **don't**." he snarled - he reached up and his servo wrapped around Sunstreaker's wrist quickly and pushed it away from his neck, putting a little distance between the two. "The second your little _fragging_ friend showed up, you two dropped Lace like a sack of expired Energon that came from the back end of an animal at the zoo. You two abandonned the femme who needs you the most in favour for **Mythic.** The two of you completely deserted Lace the _second_ somebot offered you the only thing that you two ever think of, even when the one single thing Laceburner needed was _**you two**_. But since the only thing you can think of is where you can find your next overload, she came to _us_ because she had no other choice."

He surprised even himself when the last words came out as a snarl.

Sideswipe visibly jerked back in shock and Sunstreaker clenched his jaw.

"So no. I won't be going anywhere on her. I'm going to be there for her, right beside Hot Rod, until she makes it clearly known to us that she no longer wants our company. Much in the same way _you_ did to _her_."

He pushed himself off the wall, forcing Sunstreaker to take another step back.

Mirage narrowed his eyes as he straightened his back and growled at him. "Whether you and your twin like it or not."

With that he turned and walked down the hall, leaving a not so pleased Sunstreaker and a surprised Sideswipe standing there and watching him.

When he opened the door to his room, he sighed and looked over at his bed. Just like last night, the night before, the night before that, even the night before **that** , and every night for the past five weeks Laceburner lay on his bed, curled around her favourite pillow and covered in the light, bright grey blanket.

Her chest rose and fell in a rythmic beat, and her optics flickered around under her optic lids.

Over the past three months Laceburner had been stuggling to sleep. It got to the point where it kept Smokescreen up for about an hour longer than average. It was when he heard her screaming one night and wound up recharging with her that night did he realize that **that** was all she was looking for. Someone to sleep beside to help her feel safer when recharging. He'd invited her to recharge in his place one night, and since then she'd just curled up in his room at night. He wasn't sure if she'd ever even gone back to her room in five whole weeks yet. Not that he was complaining.

She was a good teddy bear.

In her recharge, she twitched and he smiled walking over. He lifted the blanket and slipped under the blanket. He laid down and Laceburner turned over, throwing her arms over his chest. She shifted around until her helm leaned on his chassis and she sighed in her sleep. He watched her breathing go from shallow breaths like what you'd do when nervous or awake to a deep, comfortable breathing pattern. He smiled, rubbing her back and tucked his other arm under his helm as he closed his optics and let the inevitable recharge take over.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

 **Oooh, that can't be good. Poor Mirage. Poor Lacey.**


	13. Chapter 13

**I slept until 12 in the afternoon, woke up after finishing a dream that sparked an idea for the movie King Kong (2005), put two mini pizzas in the oven because I'm starving, and as I'm waiting for my delicious, totally unhealthy little circles of tasty heaven to cook I figured, hey! Why not update?! SO here you go! Chapter 13!**

 **Don't forget to review, favourite, and vote on my poll. And again, Mythic is owned by me and is one of my OCs. She is not in any versions of the Transformers franchise ever before.**

 **Enjoy!**

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Ratchat had meant it when he said no work.

At first, she tried going to work like nothing had happened, and it worked - Prowl didn't see her limp and everything worked out great... until Smokescreen walked in. As a favour to Red Alert, Smokescreen said he'd bring Prowl the security advisor's recon reports on the south side of the island, but unfotunately for Laceburner, he knew she wasn't supposed to be working. He told Prowl that he was taking her for the day and that she wouldn't be returning for the day. He didn't question it, and Smokescreen didn't tell Ratchet (thankfully for her).

So, she tried to sneak in around eight or nine o'clock ish - all while limping - and somehow managed to... for about thirty minutes. Then Ratchet walked in with Hot Rod. The flame painted mech walked over and picked her up into his arms, all while she complained and attempted - and failed - to get free, and Ratchet informed Prowl of her medical state and his order for her to stay off her feet.

So instead, she tried working at night.

She figured that Prowl went to sleep around eleven at night on average, and Ratchet would usually fall into an exhaustion induced sleep around midnight. Mirage left for patrol about fifteen minutes later. Soon after, Laceburner would get up and struggle - but eventully succeed - to get to her and Prowl's office. She managed to get about four hours of work done, and even made it back before Mirage got back from patrol. However when she slept in for longer than normal, the spy came up with a plan alongside Ratchet to catch her. Using his cloak, he hid in the office and when she finally showed up. Then he showed himself, scaring her almost to death, before Ratchet walked in.

When she tried to go the next night, there was a padlock and code that she didn't know installed on the door.

After **that** she succumbed to the fact that she wouldn't be allowed to work until Ratchet said so. In the morning, she and Bumblebee would make their slow, and limp-filled way to the Med Bay so that Ratchet could check their injuries. Turns out, when Mirage crushed Bee on the landing, he did more damage than expected. The little Bee wasn't allowed to work patrol shifts, but he could do comms duty, so he took over for anybot who wanted free time off.

Which was... everybody, practically.

It also gave her not much to do, which let her mind wander. She'd come up with theories for everything; where she was from, why the humans wanted them to stay, who really was Optimus Prime? Why did the TV show Lost have **such** a bad ending? Where was Cybertron really? What really was the motive behind the war?

It never ended. Some of it was amusing, some of it wasn't. Especially when the voice decided to pitch her ideas in. Some of it got really... graphic then.

She shuddered at the thought.

"What's wrong?" Hot Rod asked from where he sat on the recliner in her "lounge". She hated when people called it that. That made her sound special, she wasn't that special. She just... liked the isloation it provided from the rest of the base.

"Just a chill." she mumbled, cuddling further into the banket she had draped over herself. Bumblebee had been hanging with them earlier but when he left she claimed the rest of the couch and spread out.

Hot Rod nodded absent-mindedly, going back to watch the movie that was watching - Godzilla. The voice was intruiged by the idea behind it - an ancient being that only surfaced once in forever and caused massive amount of destruction on the society.

Hot Rod just seemed to enjoy the action of it all.

 _ **That's 'cos he's an idiot.**_

 _Maybe because he's a_ _mech_ _._ she retorted.

 _ **Yeah, yeah, whatever you wanna believe.**_

The door slid open and Laceburner looked over to see someone looking in. She had bright blue optics that shone somewhat brightly and reflected a glare against her perfect white armor.

Mythic.

"Hey guys. You mind if I hang with you for a bit?" she asked.

Hot Rod nodded. "Sure."

The femme trotted over and Laceburner sat up to make room for her. The only pieces of furniture in this room was a three person couch, a small loveseat and a recliner, so Laceburner assumed - and was correct - that Mythic would take a seat next to her on the couch.

"Where's your mech toys." Hot Rod asked.

Mythic let out an amused giggle, but it was cut short when Hot Rod looked at her with complete seriousness.

"They're um... on patrol right now." she said awkwardly.

Hot Rod nodded silently.

"W-What are we watching?" Mythic asked.

When Hot Rod offered no answer Laceburner stepped in. She knew what it was like to feel scared and alone. Even now sometimes she felt like the only person she could really trust was the voice to be there for her; she felt terrified and like she'd never make actual friends, and it took a while before she felt like people _weren't_ completely and utterly annoyed by her presence.

"Godzilla."

Mythic furrowed her brow. "Y-You like that movie?" she asked.

Laceburner shrugged. "It's alright. But **Hot Rod** loves it and he's in charge of the remote control because he stole it from me, so I can't help us."

The flame painted mech smiled over at her without even a trace of guilt on his face, and Laceburner huffed.

"So we're stuck watching it for now."

"For now?" Mythic asked.

"Mirage is on patrol, but he'll be done soon and when he comes I'll ask him to get it for me." Laceburner explained.

Hot Rod scoffed. "Please, like he could take this down." he bragged, bringing up and arm and flexing it to show off the muscles that permanently resided there.

"He could. Very easily." Laceburner teased, watching Hot Rod narrow his eyes at her.

"Wanna repeart that?" he asked.

She pursed her lips. "Not really." she winked.

He narrowed his eyes again. "That's offensive Lace." he joked.

"Oh please, you're full of testosterone, everything is offensive unless it's a compliment." she smiled.

It was his turn to purse his lips. "I wanna respond, but my response is **really** flirty and I don't know if Little Lacey's ready for that level of sexuality yet. She won't be able to handle it without blushing and spluttering."

She blushed at him never the less, but narrowed her eyes, and he laughed.

Mythic stayed quiet.

Laceburner shifted to try and put her feet up on the coffee table, and pain shot down through her hip and down her leg. She hissed in pain, her teeth clenching.

"Whoa, easy Lace." Hot Rod said, sitting up more prominently.

"Are you okay?" Mythic asked. "What happened?"

Laceburner groaned as she grabbed her leg in order to prevent it from moving anywhere else, although a tinge of pain still tickled in her hip servo.

"She was too close to a missile when it exploded, and she landed on the ground wrong," Hot Rod answered. "Snapped a few things in her hip."

Mythic grimaced. "Ouch."

Laceburner groaned her agreement with her as she deflated into the couch.

"You okay?" Hot Rod asked as he helped put her bad leg up on the table slowly.

She nodded, and once her leg was up let out a breath she had been holding in. "Yeah. Forgot for a second."

Hot Rod chuckled as he sat back down. "You make it worse and you'll have to go under again."

Mythic furrowed her brow. "Under? What?"

Laceburner groaned as Hot Rod laughed.

 _ **Asshole.**_ the voice grumbled.

"Lace's repair nanites aren't moving fast enough because she's still recovering from a virus so Ratchet's performing a surgery on her tomorrow." Hot Rod explained as he laughed and pointed at her.

"Shut up." she grumbled.

 _ **Again, asshole.**_

"F-For what?" Mythic spluttered surprisingly.

"My hip servo. Ratchet thought I fractured it, but now he's saying it looks more closely like a break." Laceburner mumbled humbly.

Hot Rod laughed again at her and she grumbled at him.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Patrol with Skids and Mudflap was possibly the worst thing that could ever happen to a bot. A lot of times they joked about it, but whether it was a statement meant to amuse or not, it was factual. Thankfully, Sunstreaker had Sideswipe on his side, as well as Bumblebee and Smokescreen.

The four of them were able to handle the majority of things and gave the other two the small tasks to handle that nobot could mess up. Of course, they somehow manage to screw everything up, but nothing that could cause an injury.

Well... that was what they thought. Until they managed to successfully piss off Slug, Grimlock's second in command. Then that easy chore that they couldn't mess up ended putting Sideswipe, Smokescreen and Bumblebee in the Med Bay, along with the twins themselves.

Ratchet was about to kill all of them, which Sunstreaker didn't understand, really. What had **they** done? It was Skids and Mudflap!

"There. Go." Ratchet practically barked at Smokescreen. "Be careful."

"Where do you suppose I go?" he asked. "Our shift isn't supposed to be over for another thirty minutes."

Ratchet threw a wrench at him, watching as it clanked against his helm.

"Ow!"

"You can go keep Laceburner company, I have no doubts that she's somewhat nervous." he growled.

Sideswipe perked up. "Wait, what?"

The red twin scowled - he hated how he never knew what was going on with Laceburner. And he hated how he hated it.

Smokescreen looked over at him and opened his mouth to say something, but just as he did, the doors slid opened and Mythic walked in.

"What happened?" she asked, stopping beside Sunstreaker, who stood beside Sideswipe's berth.

"Them." the golden frontliner pointed his digit over at Skids and Mudflap.

Mythic huffed. "Really mechs?"

"Wha'?!" Skids asked, and Ratchet slammed a wrench over his helm.

"Enough moving!" Ratchet growled at him.

Smokescreen turned and left the room with a roll of his optics and the door slid shut.

Sideswipe huffed and opened a private comm link. _{:: Smoke! What's going on with Lacey? ::}_

Smokescreen opened the link on his end. _{:: You don't know? ::}_

 _{:: No. ::}_

 _{:: Well then you're one of the only ones. Ratchet's gotta perform a surgery to replace her hip servo because her nanites are still delayed from the virus she caught before and they aren't fixing it. He was going to let it go but it's been two weeks and nothing's happening at all so he decided to replace it himself. ::}_

Sideswipe almost jerked back. Why did his spark hurt so much from the fact that she wasn't telling them so much stuff anymore? Why was he so... sad that he wasn't the one going and comforting her before her surgery?

 _{:: Oh, alright. Well, uh... tell her I wish her the best and a speedy recovery. ::}_ he sent back.

 _{:: Will do Sides. ::}_ he sent back then closed the link.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

To say the voice hated her for allowing Ratchet to put her under anesthetic and perform a surgery on her while she was completely unconscious was a complete and total understatement. All day she'd hung around Smokescreen, Hot Rod, Mirage and even listened to that mech Bluestreak babble on for a bit to help calm her nerves and ignore the voice.

When she finally walked in to the Med Bay, Ratchet led her into a back private room with a berth and a bunch of other medical looking equipment. She sat down on the berth, this one ten times more comfortable than the ones outside, and he asked to talk to the voice.

She voiced her concerns, all of which Ratchet did his best to answer and reassure, and when the voice was much calmer about it, Ratchet had her lay on the berth and administered the anesthetic.

The last thing she saw was First Aid and Moonracer entering the room to help Ratchet before she fell asleep.

It was the nicest, deepest, most undisturbed sleep she'd had since her arrival, and that was **not** an understatement. There was no dream, no nightmare, no loud snoring of one of the bots close to her room. She didn't wake up every so often and worry about things for five or ten minutes before trying to fall back asleep. Just complete and total peace.

Moonracer was the first thing she saw when she woke up.

"Morning sweetie. We're finished." she hummed.

Laceburner moaned out her nonsensical response. She was still tired from the drug's effects, her leg was really stiff, and she felt like if she moved, something would scream out in pain.

"Yeah, you're going to be a bit sore for a little bit. Replacing an entire hip servo... you don't bounce back from that right away. But everything's all good with you now. By the end of the month the stitches will be all healed and you can start working once they're out. And in two weeks you can start walking again." the green femmed smiled tightly, then patted Laceburner's helm.

"Moon," Ratchet called as he opened the door and peeked in. "She's got a visitor."

Moonracer nodded. "We'll be right outside." she said to the black painted femme, who groaned.

Moonracer left the room and right behind her a large, red colored frame walked in.

"Hey Lacey."

Laceburner looked over at him, her optics still only tiny slits.

He chuckled. "You look... tired."

She wanted to roll her eyes at his attempt at wording it nicely.

 _ **Oh God, kill me. And him, kill him.**_

"I probably look like I just died, but thanks for trying." she grumbled.

He chuckled lightly, and an awkward silence filled the room.

She wanted so badly to shift into a more comfortable position, but feared that something bad would happen, so she stayed still. It took him another minute or so before he looked up.

"I've-uh... got comms duty, then patrol. I just wanted to make sure you were alright." he said.

She furrowed her brow; why was this seemingly so hard for him? "Thanks."

He nodded again, then turned and walked towards the door.

With one final glance over the shoulder, Sideswipe left the room and walked out of the Med Bay.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

"Enough. She's only waking up now."

"Exactly, I can go visit her."

"No you may not. She might still be uncomfortable until her frame settles."

"Then if she is I'll tell you and you can help her."

"Sideswipe-"

"Ratchet!" he almost yelled.

He could see the medic fill with rage as he reached for his wrench.

"I haven't talked to her in weeks! Weeks! I used to talk to her every day! All I want to do is say hi." he pleaded.

Ratchet picked his wrench up. "No."

"Please, I'm begging you here." Sideswipe pleaded. "How would it feel if Moonracer just underwent a surgery and you weren't there to make sure she was alright when she woke up?"

Ratchet's optics dimmed in response as Sideswipe pulled on his sparkstrings a little. The worst part was Sideswipe knew it.

"You are not bonded to Laceburner." Ratchet pointed out. "As of late it seems like you aren't even friends with her."

"Ratchet **please**. I just want to see her. I haven't seen her in weeks, and we used to be so close."

The Chief Medical Officer scoffed. "Is that what you were thinking when Mythic showed up?"

Sideswipe's face adorned an expression of defeat. "Ratchet _please_!"

"She is only waking up now and still under some effects from anesthetic. I will say it one last time. _**No.**_ " he roared.

Sideswipe didn't expect his reaction; Ratchet didn't expect his reaction; Pit, even First Aid wouldn't have ever guessed his reaction.

His engine let off a whine akin to that of an animal in pain and mourning, and his optics flashed a brighter shade of blue, mixing with a white tint as his Spark snarled, echoing the sound off of Sideswipe's lips.

Ratchet turned to look at him with a flabbergasted look, First Aid tensed with anticipation (and slight fear of one of Optimus Prime's **best** frontliners), and Sideswipe's optics widened considerably.

Ratchet saw it in his optics; the fear, the surprise, the shock. He hadn't expected to respond like that, and then physically flinched, now waiting. Waiting for a punishment.

Ratchet had hoped he'd never see either Sideswipe nor Sunstreaker do that again. Not in his onlining anyways. When they first became Autobots, they still depended somewhat heavily on their instincts from the Pits, and when Ratchet first began trying to help them, everytime he made it obvious they'd done something wrong, they would flinch like a caged animal waiting to be whipped for not doing something properly.

They were the first pair that Ratchet had to be nothing but patient with. It taught all three of them something, and since then Ratchet had felt somewhat more... responsible for the two than any other bot around. Even if he sometimes did want to disassemble them into pieces and put them back into a tram car.

Ratchet's face softened somewhat as Sideswipe looked away from him and down at the ground with an unreadable expression as First Aid continued staring at him with anticipation.

Ratchet put his wrench away, and placed a servo on the red mech's shoulder, doing his best to keep a straight face when the mech closed his optics and winced again, as if he thought he was about to be beaten.

"Come on." he said softly.

Sideswipe nodded without talking his optics off the floor and followed behind him humbly, his processor obviously reeling and dipping into memories he never wanted to see or think of again.

Ratchet knocked ever so slightly and opened the door. "Moon?" he called.

His Sparkmate looked over. Laceburner lay on the berth, still hazy and tired from everything. He didn't blame her, she'd lost enough Energon. They tried to keep it as clean as possible, but when it comes to a surgery that pulls open the **protoform** and replaces something underneath it, losing Energon is inevitable.

"She's got a visitor." he said.

Sideswipe shifted on his peds, and hoped she didn't look too bad. He really hoped she didn't look like death, he didn't want to see her like that. When he tried to pull up a mental image of Laceburner, he wanted to see a happy her. Like that one time they caught her fooling around with the Dinobots down by her little beach spot - smiling widely and laughing aloud, her visor a lighter tint than usual allowing you to just _barely_ see the blue from her actual optics.

Her optics, not her visor but her actual optics, were beautiful. They reminded him slightly of crystal flowers from the Praxus Gardens. He never actually went to see the Gardens in person, but Bluestreak brought one with him when he escaped Praxus as a way to remember his home, and even that one single flower had him wishing there was some way that their planet could be restored. It may have been broken, but it was also beautiful.

Moonracer walked out of the room, passing him with a smile, and he walked in.

The small black femme lay on the berth, her visor barely lit up to hint that her optics were just scarcely open. She was covered in a blanket up to just above her breasts so he couldn't see much but it would be a lie to say he didn't want to smile like crazy when she tilted her helm and connected optics with his'. Well, he was hoping, but he couldn't really see them through her visor.

"Hey Lacey," he smiled. "You look... tired." he mumbled. She did. She looked ready to pass out for a few hours. Or a few days.

She seemed to chuckle in the tiniest of bits. "I probably look like I just died, but thanks for trying."

He chuckled lightly, enjoying the sound of her voice. They stayed quiet for about a minute, not doing anything but staring at each other. Ugh how he wished she didn't have that visor - he wanted to see her **optics** , not a black piece of glass.

"I've-uh... got comms duty in a bit, then patrol. I just wanted to make sure you were alright." he said, and shocked himself a bit. Since when did he stutter around femmes? Since when did he stutter at all?

He noticed her furrow her brows, obviously confused at something, but replied none the less. "Thanks."

He nodded again, then got up and walked over to the door.

He stopped briefly, looking over at his shoulder and stole one last glance at her, taking note of the glint on her visor, then left the Med Bay. As soon as the Med Bay doors slid shut he balled his fist up and punched the cement wall. Chunks of the organic-like matter that would have never been even thought of back on his home planet fell to the ground and he snarled.

Where was Mythic? He had steam he wanted to burn off.

 _{:: Where are you? ::}_

She seemed surprised. _{:: Y-Your room, why? ::}_

 _{:: Don't go anywhere. ::}_

With one last snarl he turned and headed to his room.

Comms duty could wait.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

 **My pizzas are still cooking and that is truly a disappointment to me. The rack in my oven popped and it scared the crap out of one of my cats. I got to be the first one to ride both of my (not so baby) baby twin horses and it was so nerve wracking but** so **much fun. This story is my favourite that I've written so far. I've begun writing my King Kong (2005 fanfic story that I thought of earlier. Canada decided to go from sweater weather to giving us snow up to my knees because she's bipolar like that. That's all that happening over here, what's up with you guys? Hope you enjoyed, don't forget to review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**I hope everybody enjoys! I've worked hard this past little bit for RW, mostly because I'm addicted. I sincerely hope you guys enjoy, and don't forget to review and tell me what you think! I had a bad day yesterday, and it was kind of disappointing when I came home and looked to see that none of the stories I've favourite and followed had been updated, so I hope this helps one person today!**

 **Enjoy the rest of your day today, hope you like it don't forget to review!**

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

You know what you can't do when you have surgery on your hip servo?

 _ **Almost everything!**_

With the exception of eating and sleeping and breathing, Ratchet won't allow his patient to do a single thing for a whole few weeks after surgery, and it drove Laceburner absolutely insane. By now, she'd gone through the majority of the movies so many times that she could complete a three thousand word, formal essay and an oral presentation on all of them. The voice did it's best to entertain her with debates on this topic or that topic, and they even often got into deep conversations about the bots here on this base. She learned that while the voice had a deep respect for Optimus Prime, she was willing and ready to slam a fist into Ultra Magnus's face. They had met him once so far, when he came in with work for Prowl; he was strict, blunt, and to the point and she wasn't sure how comforting it was for her to know there was someone on this base who would more than willingly let her die if it meant a large amount to everybody else would escape with few to no injuries.

 _ **Then we should be ready to do the same for him.**_

Then there was the other mechs who showed up with him, Trailbreaker, and Tracks. Trailbreaker was probably her favourite of the two. He was a fun-loving, good-humored cheerleader who seemed to like everybody, and often joked around with everybody in difficult times. He had a large alt mode that made him slow and used up a lot of fuel, but he was talented and brave. He possesed a near impenetrable force field that the voice loved him for, and something called "magnawheels". She had yet to know what those were or what they did, but she assumed they were useful, at least back home. Tracks could be considered the exact opposite of him. He was narcissist who loved showing off, making cocky, self-centered comments, and boosting his own ego about his paint job. He was worse than Sunstreaker, which really impressed the voice. They didn't know that was possible. Then there was Mythic. She wasn't a shy female, however they weren't sure how many friends she had here, but she was close with Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Laceburner wasn't really interested in finding out just how close exactly. She was friendly and often smiling, and seemed like a genuinely nice femme, and she was **really** good with a rifle.

The voice liked Trailbreaker the most, simply because he was the safest, strongest, and best option when it came to surviving.

 _ **We've got the speed, he's got the firepower. It's a good team and a high chance of surviving.**_

 _"Laceburner, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe please report to Prowl's office, Laceburner, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe to Prowl's office."_ rang through the P.A system. She furrowed her brow in slight frustration.

 _ ***(* How would they like me to get there? *)***_ she sent out over public comms.

A few bots laughed and not even a minute later the private rec room door opened as Jazz walked in.

"Nee some help gettin' there Lil Lace?" he asked, his visor lighting up.

 _ **No shit! Isn't he supposed to be a smart one?**_

She lit her up to a darker, shinier shade of black in response, discarding the voice's comment. "Preferably." she smiled.

He laughed. "Come on, let's get ya there. Hop on." he said, crouching in front of her.

She pushed herself onto her one good leg, then wrapped her arms around his neck and he hefted her onto his back before they left the room and down the hall to Prowl's office. The door slid open for him and she looked to see Prowl sitting at his desk, typing away. Her desk still sat right in front of his; they had it set up so the two were facing each other but their work was private. Seeing as the other two weren't here yet, Jazz pulled her swivel chair out for her and sat her down.

"Thanks" she smiled tightly, putting her foot up on the desk.

"Afternoon Laceburner. Thank you for coming so quickly." Prowl said distractedly.

"No problem. So um... you aren't too behind or anything. Because if you are, I'm sure we can convince Ratchet to let me-"

He cut her off by looking up at her and connecting eyes with her with a questioning look.

She blushed shyly. "Y-You know, so you aren't behind."

He smiled at her attempt. "I'm managing alright, do not worry Laceburner. But thank you for the concern. I assure you that you will have work to do when Ratchet approves your return."

 _ **Or we could just do what we want?**_

She nodded at him, leaning back in her chair.

"That eager to get back, eh Lace?" Jazz joked as he took the spare chair, rolling it over and propping his feet up on Prowl's desk.

The black and white SIC sighed. " **Must** you Jazz?"

Jazz shrugged. "Sorry Prowler." he mumbled. "May I?" he asked Laceburner as he rolled over.

She nodded "G-Go ahead." He propped his feet up on her desk instead and began tapping his hands along his stomach.

She giggled. "Bored?"

He shrugged again. "Kinda, but I gotta stay. Y'know how it is."

She opened her top desk drawer and pulled out a ball, passing it to him. "Here. I-I usually just squeeze it and toss it around when I'm bored or stressed.

He laughed. "Would ya look at tha'. They made a Cyber-sized Hackey Sackey." he joked.

"Jazz, it is simply a Cybertronian sized stress relief ball. Laceburner has it for her tendancy to... tap when working." Prowl chose his words carefully, and Laceburner giggled again.

 _ **It's**_ _ **fun**_ _ **man, leave us alone.**_

"Sorry. Didn't realize I was ever tapping until you told me." she apologize half heartedly.

"I am fully aware that it was a subconscious act Laceburner, that is why I gave it to you in the first place." he said as he continued typing, his brain more occupied with the work in front of him.

Jazz threw the ball in the air, catching it in his other hand. "Laceburner?"

"Hmm?" she asked, reading through one of the datapads that had been left on her desk.

"Do you still have that... voice?" he asked.

She looked up at him seriously.

 _ **I'm right here! Where do you expect me to go?! Idiot.**_

Slowly, she looked back down at the datapad. "I do." was her clipped response, her tone akin to that of an uncomfortable thought but she managed to hide some of the discomfort in her tone if she was at all.

 _ **You think we can hurt that one?**_ the voice asked.

 _No, leave Jazz alone._

 _ **Come on, we'll just hurt him, we won't**_ _ **kill**_ _ **him. Just enough to land him in that stupid Med Bay.**_

 _N-No. can we pl-please just leave Jazz alone?_

The voice grumbled. _**Fine.**_

"Laceburner, you aren't in here to work. You are not cleared yet." Prowl reminded her

She hummed again. "I'm not, just reading." she said distractedly.

"Where are those two?" he grumbled off topic.

"Whad'ya need 'em for anyways Prowler?" Jazz asked.

"This week-"

Just as he began speaking, the door opened and Sideswipe stumbled through.

"Hey!" he yelled, looking back at Sunstreaker.

"Well then walk." Sunstreaker snapped.

"Whoa, cranky there Sunny?" Jazz asked. "What, d'ya wake up on the wrong side of Mythic?"

Without meaning to, Laceburner let out a short _"ha"_ , throwing her head back as she laughed.

"Jazz!" Prowl scolded.

His visor lit up amusedly. "What? Lace thought I was funny." He then proceeded to light up the blue tint to his visor towards her.

In retaliation she flashed her's a neon orange in his direction, then back down at her datapad.

"Wait, you were serious when you said you work with Prowl?" Sideswipe asked.

Laceburner looked up at him where he stood with a shocked expression on his face.

 _ **Why would anyone lie about that, slag for brains?**_

"W-Why would I lie about that?" she echoed the voice.

"Thank you for finally showing up mechs." Prowl said bitterly. "Please, sit."

They passed Laceburner and Jazz and took the two chair that stood beside Prowl's desk. Laceburner turned the datapad off, placing it on top of the stack she had on her desk.

"Here Lacey." Jazz mumbled, hading her the ball she'd lent him.

With a smile, she plucked it from his claws and dropped it in the first drawer in her desk, then looked up at Prowl, who was looking down at a datapad on his desk.

"Prowl?" she called.

He looked up her. "Pardon?"

"We're all here." she reminded him.

"Ah yes." He put the datapad away. "This week we're having rennovations to done to the base to accommodate for more rooms. We're going to turn the rooms on the other side into strictly Cybertronian training rooms to avoid the risk of accidents among humans during our seperate training. The rennovations are expected to last about a month long. The only room that gets effected by the construction are the twins' room so you'll be bunking with Laceburner for a little while," he explained, then looked over at Laceburner. "Is that alright with you? They'll have their own seperate berths. Your room is the only one with the space to accommodate two others."

She nodded. "I'm not really in there often anyways so yeah, it's fine."

"Why not?" Sunstreaker asked in a deep tone - maybe that was just how deep his voice usually was.

 _ **Why do you care?**_

"I've been bunking with Mirage lately." she answered.

They were silent for a second. Everybody stared at her.

"Why?" Jazz asked hesitantly.

She shrugged. "He slipped into my room once when I was having a nightmare and offered for me to sleep with him, so I accepted it. Just haven't gone back to my room yet. Not that big of a deal."

"Oh thank Primus." Jazz breathed. "I thought you two were fraggin'."

"We were what? What is that?" she asked.

"Uh... don't worry about it." Jazz waved off.

"Alright, your berths will be moved to Laceburner's room today, and I'm sure she'll give you the code to get in at her discretion. Thank you."

Now that Prow had finished, Laceburner opened a datapad to continue reading.

"Laceburner! Put it down." Prowl instructed.

"I'm not technically working if I'm just reading." she argued weakly.

"You aren't cleared for work yet, put it away or I will bring Ratchet in here." he warned.

Laceburner huffed, turning the datapad off. What they didn't notice was the datapad she slipped into her subspace when she placed the other one back.

"I was just reading it." she mumbled, looking down at her hands that sat uselessly in her lap.

"I promise when you come back it will be right there where you left it." he said.

"Come on Lace, I'll bring ya back to yer lounge." Jazz offered.

"Yipee. Back to watch **another** movie." she complained.

"Five more days then ya'll be able to walk." he reminded her, crouching in front of her. She pulled herself onto his back and he grabbed her legs to keep her up.

He brought her back to the private rec room and placed her on the couch lightly to not hurt her hip servo. "If ya need anything just comm me."

She nodded and he left the room.

Then she smiled, almost evilly, and pulled a datapad out of her subspace.

 _ **We'll do work if we**_ _ **wanna do work!**_ _ **So suck it, haha!**_ the voice cheered as she turned the datapad on.

The datapad did its little jingle before the screen lit up and she began reading, highlighting important information. It couldn't have been more than about fifteen minutes later when the public comm links opened.

 _ ***(* LACEBURNER! Bring the data pad back to your desk**_ _ **now**_ _ **! *)***_ Ratchet roared.

She smirked, ignoring it and looked up. The rec room doors had locked after Jazz left so no one would be able to get in.

 _ ***(* Ratchet? What is going on? *)***_ Optimus Prime asked.

Laceburner shut the comm so that she wouldn't hear anybody and looked back at the datapad. Prowl had put her in charge of sorting and reading over the profiles for the new humans that were introduced to the Autobots, as well as security analysis reports given in by First Aid or any complaints by other bots about something wrong on the island. She was also in charge of everything and anything to do with the Dinobots since they seemed to trust her the most.

"Laceburner can you please open the door?"

Her helm popped up. She knew that voice. It was Sunstreaker. She huffed and got up on her one good leg, jumping over and opened the door. She stared at him for a few seconds, watching as his eyes flicked between hers as if looking for something. They must have stood there staring at each other for three whole minutes before she huffed and turned, hopping back to the couch. About halfway there something slipped under her legs and around her back and lifted her off the ground. Sunstreaker brought her to the couch silently.

He sat beside her and continued looking at her.

"Is there a reason you're staring?" She asked, only realizing how rude it was until afterwards. "S-Sorry. That was mean."

He shrugged, and that was his only answer. He didn't stop staring; he didn't say a word; he barely moved at all other than the flickering of his optics. She gulped back the spit that collected in her mouth. It wasn't until the data pad on her lap lit up that she realized how close they were. But he didn't pull away, and she didn't move either. His eyes flicked down for a second, then back up to connect with her eyes, and it took her a second to realize he had glanced down at her lips.

Then she realized he was even closer and there was only three centimetres or so between their faces.

"Stop." she whispered, and he did. That didn't mean he stopped staring though.

"You know Ratchet's about ready to rewire you, right?" he asked, his voice so low it was almost a whisper.

She nodded. "You know I'm about ready to rewire myself from boredom, right?" she retaliated.

He chuckled quietly, and just as he opened his mouth to say something, he froze. He thought about something for a second, then spoke on a new train of thought. "Why are recharging with Mirage?"

 _ **Why do you care?**_

 _Just go._

 _ **Going, bye.**_

She looked up at him and shrugged. "He... He keeps the nightmares away."

Sunstreaker furrowed his brow. "What about Sides and I?"

She scoffed, leaning back to make space between them. "You two are a little... preoccupied with Mythic for me lately, wouldn't you say?"

"Laceburner, do you have that datapad? Ratchet's about t-"

The door opened and Hot Rod froze where he stood to see the interaction that was going on.

"Um... sorry, just looking for Lace. Where's the datapad?" he asked.

Quickly, she subspaced the datapad. "What datapad?" she asked innocently, despite the fact that both mechs had seen it before.

He gave her a sympathetic look. "Come on Lace. I know you want to work but you've also gotta listen to Hatchet and his orders."

She huffed, her eyebrows stitching together. "I'm just reading it."

He sighed. "I know Lace. Just less than a week left until you can start walking around. Five recharges, you can do that."

"Not without complaint." she grumbled.

Sunstreaker chuckled at her response, wondering when she got so gutsy and gained all that confidence.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Hot Rod wound up taking her datapad back to Prowl before going onto his shift of comms duty. That was all she could remember because soon after she fell asleep.

She woke up about five hours later, according to her internal chronometre, laying on... on someone's chest. There was a large, warm hand resting on the back of her hip, so low it was almost sitting on an uncomfortable place, and their feet were tangled together. Her head was rising and falling slowly with the mech's breathing, which was slow and constant.

Whoever it was groaned and shifted slightly, but otherwise stayed still as she sighed and tightened her eyes closed as she moaned.

"You okay?" Mirage shifted slightly, but otherwise didn't move. "S'your hip okay?" he asked.

She huffed, moaned, and that was it. "Why aren't we in your room?"

He chuckled. "Well then. My apologies, hold on ma'am."

She waited as Mirage shifted around until he was standing, then picked her in his arms and walked out of the rec room. She giggled as he walked down the hall, listening to the whir of his knee joints as he marched down the hallway.

"You're a very comfortable ride." she joked.

"Well I'm glad I live up to your expectations, signora." he laughed.

"Lacey, what's the-"

Sideswipe came around the corner and froze when his eyes landed on the two of them. Then she remembered that the twins needed her code to get into her room.

"Oh, sorry Sides. Um, my code for my bedroom is 03 02 07. It's the date that I showed up." she gave him a tight smile.

Sideswipe looked over the two of them warily, then nodded. He cleared his throat. "Thanks."

She nodded with a smile. "Of course."

He gave them one more look over before turning and disappearing.

She heard Mirage huff almost angrily as he continued on his way to his room. She took note of the way his arms tightened.

"What?" she asked.

His eyes flashed a little bright, but he shook his head. "Nothing, don't worry about it."

She furrowed her brows, but didn't press on - he obviously didn't want to be pushed on the subject.

"Why 03 02 07?" he asked.

"That's the numerical number for the date that you guys found me." she mumbled. "Only real important thing that I can remember."

He nodded and she let herself fall back asleep in his arms.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Laceburner had always detested coming back to Vos. She hadn't been young enough when she ran away to forget anything - if she dug deep enough into her mind she could recall everything that happened like it had gone down yesterday - but the simple fact that this whole city-state used to be her own - that it used to hold memories of her Mom and Dad dancing together in the park, or laughing together in that little cafe on Second Street about the idiots at work - was enough on its own to make her hate returning everytime they had to. All this city held for her was expired memories and false hope... and the occassional mech that they had to take down.

But this trip... this had to be the hardest mission she'd ever have to do.

"Burner, you don't have to do this if you aren't comfortable. Cori said she'd be willing to take your place for this one." a deep voice reminded before a servo was placed on her shoulder.

She took a deep breath in, pushing her shoulder up form their slouched position, and clenched her jaw.

"No. No, I can do this." she looked back at the building in front of her.

It was a simple, two story house, with a wrap around porch and a tree out front that was overgrown and not really cared for. The paint had been white before but afer aon cycle after aon cycle of obvious neglect, it was almost beige in colour now. The windows that looked out over the road were all boarded up with slabs of dark gray metal and bolted shut, the glass itself having been smashed in at a few places. There was a fence around the property with multiple holes in it and probably hadn't been really tended to in aon cycles, the black paint beginning to peel. On the right side of the house, she could see a ladder built in to the side of the wall for emergency escapes. The door had multiple locks on it, and probably had more chain locks on the inside as well. The door, what used to be painted white along with the rest of the house, was a dark black that was chipped away at different places and almost made the house look smaller than it already was. She couldn't remember alot since she was so young when she left Vos for good, but she remembered enough to know what it was.

Her old home.

She could see the hole in the fence behind the house where she slipped through and took off.

Tears filled her optics - the one thing she could easily remember was the time capsule that her and her parents had buried under that tree. Her Dad promised her that one day the three of them would dig it out together.

"Laceburner." a golden servo grabbed her arm. "You **don't** have to do this."

She wiped the tears out of her optics and took a deep breath, straightening her back confidently.

"Get ready for the plan." she said simply, then walked through the gate.

That was weird, they never had a gate that opened and shut.

The walk up to the door seemed to take forever until, finally, she made it up the porch and knocked on the door. The little peep hole opened, she saw a green optics staring out before it shut again, and the door opened for her.

The mech was small, with finn-like audios that were bigger than his own helm, and a nasal ridge that was too big.

"If you're looking for Rockslide, he'll be back soon." he said as he moved aside. "Just wait inside."

She gave him a smile as she walked inside.

Immediately to her left was a living room. There was three different couches, and a round coffee table that had various things scattered over it. To her right was a kitchen, with another round table, an Energon concentrator, and three or four mechs and femmes laughing as they recalled stories. Down the hall there was a room that she couldn't see, but she could hear bots in there.

The stairs in front of her practically taunted her, beckoning her to come closer.

She yielded.

She could remember them like the back of her hand. The first stair groaned if you stepped on only the edge of it; the fourth stair creaked a tiny bit when you stepped on it; the fifth stair had a crack running from left to right on it; the tenth stair had four different chips on the edges. Marks she had put there as a youngling running up the stairs, tripping and falling more times than she could count.

She listened to the sounds and paid attention to what the stairs looked like, realizing everything she recalled was right. The first stair groaned quietly when she put her weight on the edge of it; the fourth stair creaked in the slightest bit when she stepped on it; the fifth stair had a long crack going from left to right across its length; the tenth stair had four chips on the edges of them.

Her optics filled with tears, but she blinked them back.

The first room there had its door open a tad bit, showing its emptiness, but she walked in and closed the door behind her.

She walked to the center of the room and looked around. Mentally, she could see it - the berth that was tucked into the corner, the armour polisher that always stood in the far corner. The pictures upon pictures that littered the walls, the old ratty desk and accompanying chair.

This was her parents' room.

She collapsed, sitting down and pulling her knees to the floor

A tear ran down her cheek.

 _{:: Laceburner, retreat. You were not ready for this mission, and I shoud have been smart enough to have known that. Get out of that house now. I will rendez vous with you on Eight Street just outside of Vos. Go. ::}_ a deep voice spoke to her over the comms.

She took a shaky breath in.

 _{:: Laceburner of Vos. Out. Now. Before you get caught. ::}_

With a nod to herself, she stood up off the floor and headed over to the door. She rubbed her servos over her cheeks one last time to take the tears off, then recentered herself and opened the door.

Just as she was about to head down the stairs, she happened to look over to the left. There was only that door open - the bathroom.

 _{:: Laceburner, you have to get out before anybot starts to get curious. You're about to get caught! ::}_

She faltered, and felt her servos tremble.

 _ **Get up!**_

 _{:: Laceburner, get out_ **now** **!** _::}_ someone yelled over the comms.

 _ **Wake up!**_

Without further thought, she ran down the stairs and out the door.

 _ **Wake up! Get up!**_

When Laceburner's eyes shot open, she was staring at the ceiling. Mirage was laying beside her, his arm under her head to act as a pillow _._

 _ **Nightmare?**_

 _Yeah._

 _ **You okay?**_

She took a deep sigh in. _Yeah_

 _ **Good. Just an FYI, Strafe's making a mess of the main hangar. So is Slug.**_

With a deep sigh, she pushed herself off the bed.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

 **Voila friends! I hope everybody liked it, I'll see you in the next update! Don't forget to tell my what you thought in the reviews!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Nothing too special about this, but hope you enjoy none the less :) Don't forget to review friends!**

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Laceburner's engine roared as she sped into the main hangar. She transformed up, skidding to a stop in fornt of a line of scared humans. One of them looked up at her as if she was their only hope of being saved from dying. Then her eyes looked up and landed on Strafe, who was flying in a large circle, screeching angrily. A table flew over her head and she ducked down to avoid being hit by anything. Slug was rooting up the ground, and throwing tables and Jeeps around with his tusks angrily.

"Slug! Slug!" Laceburner yelled, running forward. She passed over a few human tables, turned over Jeeps and torn up ground.

He roared, turning to look at her with enraged eyes that softened when they landed on her. Strafe screeched, hovering over the ground with a flap of his wings that blew everything around him out of the way. He screeched again with a toss of his heads, craning his neck. Slug roared in answer at him, snarling angrily.

"What happen- **what happened**?" she bellowed at them.

They both stopped abruptly, and Strafe stopping flapping his wings to instead land on the ground, pounding his spiked fists into the torn up cement as he placed them down.

There was a roar off in the distance, most likely an acknowledgement from Grimlock, and then Optimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Prowl, Ironhide, and Ratchet came running in from their rooms.

"What is going on?" Optimus Prime asked angrily as a few of the important humans like William Lennox and Robert Epps came running in.

Strafe snarled at him with a screech, and Laceburner ran her servo down the length of his neck to comfort him.

Grimlock stomped through the opened doors of the base calmly and slowly, as if every step he took was calculated and precise. He stopped, leaning forward to accomodate his balance with his weight, and roared, a little spittle of fire coming form the back of his throat as he crouched down with the force of the roar he was emmitting. When he finished, he stood up a full height and adjusted where his feet were.

Everything about him screamed danger - leadership; proceed with caution; you mess with my pack then you mess with me; your hurt them and I snap your neck; back off, stand down, leave them alone or I will step on you; punish them in any way and you'll be the one paying. Get lost.

"What is going on?" Optimus Prime demanded again.

"It's... It's our fault - **my** fault." one of the human soldiers said humbly, looking at the ground.

"We were training with one of the new prototype weapons when Sanchez mistook Slug's eyes for a Decepticon's. He shot the weapon and almost hit the two headed bird. The two of them freaked out and chased us back here." another one of then answered.

"You took the prototype out without precautions and authorization?" William asked angrily.

Slug snarled again as Grimlock walked over to them. Laceburner ran a hand along one of his tusks with a shooshing sound to comfort him. Grimlock stood behind them with a grunt and she noticed him flex his hands.

"Laceburner, I thought I told you no walking." Ratchet reprimanded her as he walked over.

His face wasn't hard and angry, but it was stern. With only five days left until she could walk, it wasn't **extremely** dangerous for her to be walking, but better safe than sorry.

"Sorry." she mumbled. "I heard the commotion and when I realized it was them I kind of... acted without thinking. I thought one of them was hurt." she said quietly.

He huffed at her, but his hand reached up to touch the side of his head. His eyes dimmed - obviously he was contacting someone - then he looked up at her. "Don't walk anywhere, someone's coming."

She nodded, leaning alot of her weight on to Slug's side, who carried her weight like it was a feather. Ratchet smiled when he saw that she was taking her weight off of that leg, and turned to assess the damged with Optimus.

"What is this prototype weapon?" Optimus Prime asked.

"It's main model is based off of one of Ironhide's weapons." one of the younger humans boasted.

Optimus Prime straightened his shoulders, his face darkening. "We gave a very clear and straight forward answer. We are _not_ sharing our advancements in weaponary with the human race. To take the base model of one of my soldier's weapons would be to break that clause."

A hand touched her shoulder and she looked behind her to see Sideswipe standing there. His eyes were half closed, his shoulders sagging slighty. His engine ran at a very quiet, almost deaf purr.

"Ratchet said you needed a lift." he mumbled.

She smiled. "Yeah."

He nodded, then reached down, slipping an arm under her knees, and another arm behind her back, lifting her up easily.

Slug growled, but Prowl walked up to the group of Dinobots.

"Mechs, back to your base. Now please." he commanded as Sideswipe turned and walked.

"Let me guess, you want to go to that spy's room?" he asked grumpily.

 _ **Yeah, you got a problem with that?**_ the voice growled.

Laceburner flinched at his tone.

 _ **If he's so butthurt then maybe he shouldn't have just**_ _ **left**_ _ **you when you weren't as useful as Mythic was to him.**_ the voice spat angrily.

She almost flinched at the voice's tone too; what was with everybody's bitchiness today? Couldn't everybody just be nice?

She just wanted everybody to be nice and get along for once. For once!

 _ **Pretty sure that's impossible.**_

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

"Laceburner. Lace, wake up."

She groaned at the voice.

 _Shut up._

 _ **Not me.**_

Then, whoever it was ran their fingers over her audio receptors lightly, being extra careful around the cover plating that twitched around in a circle at the contact. Again, she groaned.

"No." she moaned, reaching up to try and swat them away.

"Yes. Come on beautiful, you've gotta get up. Ratchet wants to check your hip servo just in case."

She let her engine growl louder at whoever it was, then shoved her head under the pillow.

 _ **Who is i-**_

 _Don't care, go to sleep!_ she yelled at the voice.

 _ **Someone's not a good morning person.**_

She snarled at the voice, not even realizing that the snarl echoed off her lips out loud.

"Whoa, hey. Just saying, he wants to check your hip."

She groaned one last time before turning over. Mirage was leaning over with his hand on her shoulder as she glared up at him briefly before her eyes slid shut again. He laughed.

"He said you can walk there."

Her optics shot open suddenly and she sprung up to sit.

"Whoa, not so fast." he laughed.

She smiled sheepishly, throwing her legs over the edge of the bed and looked down at the ground as she placed her feet on the ground.

"Take it easy Lace. Just because he's saying you can walk there does not mean you're off of easy rest." he pointed out. "You still have to be careful."

She huffed as she stood up and place her weight onto both feet.

Her hip creaked a little but did nothing else after she put some weight on it, so she pushed herself to stand up.

When nothing happened, she beamed up at Mirage. "See? I'm fine."

He chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, come on."

She smiled as he offered an arm for support, and she slipped her arm through his. They walked out of the room and down the hall together, taking a slow, controlled pace and stopping every once in a while when Laceburner noticed that her hip started cramping.

The doors slid open and Laceburner walked inside the Medical Bay. Ratchet sat on a stool, working on something or other that she didn't know what it must have heard them come in becaue he looked over his shoulder.

"Sit." he said sharply, obviously focused.

She took a seat down on one of the berths in the middle and Mirage sat beside her.

Ratchet pushed his chair back and stood up with a scanner in hand. Mirage moved away from her as to not interfere with the results.

Ratchet stepped closer to her and dropped his head down to whisper to her. "Can the voice please go? I need crystal clear results for this."

 _ **Fine.**_ it sighed. _**I'm gone.**_

 _Thank you._

 _ **Yell if you need me.**_ it said seriously, and then it seemed to disappear.

She looked up and connected eyes with him and nodded. He smiled slightly, fairly tightly.

"Perfect. Thank you." he said quietly, then stepped back and turned the scanner on. It came alive with a whirr, and she watched the little green light scan over herself three or four times before the tingle ran through her protoform. She wiggled a little at the tickle, and her face scrunched up when the tingle turned into more of a painful feeling.

"You okay Laceburner?" Mirage asked.

She furrowed her brows and shut her optics tightly, holding her breath for another ten or eleven seconds before the pain eased up and she sighed.

"Apologies. I should have told you that protoform scans can be somewhat painful." Ratchet said.

Mirage, who moved closer to her, ran a hand up and down her arm gently. "You okay?" he asked, his accent heavy and thick.

She nodded and took another sigh in. "I'm... I'm okay."

He noded, gripping the top of her arm tightly for a second.

"Alright, your hip servo is still a little on the sensitive side, but you should be able to walk from now." Ratchet told her.

 _Yes! Score!_

"However - I'd like you to go take a shower. It'll help get the rust, pain relieving gunk, and bolt adhesives out of your system and they won't get stuck anywhere. If not, they might get trapped in the joints and creases, and cause an infection." he explained.

She nodded. "Okay."

"And Mirage, Optimus is requesting your presence in his office as soon as possible. Something about a misplaced recon report" Ratchet informed as he turned around.

"Thank you R-Ratchet." Laceburner stuttered once over her word as she mumbled, heading out of the room.

"You good to get to your room on your own?" Mirage asked once outside.

She nodded. "Yeah, thank you. I'll see you later." she waved him off with a mumble.

He nodded as he turned and walked down the hall, and she headed in the opposite direction slowly. Her hip was completely fine, so she sped up until she made it to her room. She plugged the code in, waiting until the door slid wide open before walking in.

Like Prowl said, there was an extra two beds in the corner, adjacent to her own bed, which was covered in a thin layer of dust that had collected over the last little while during her stay with Mirage instead. There was two different guys sleeping in each bed. Sideswipe lay spread out over the entire bed on his stomach, one pillow resting under his right leg, one under his head. He had his right arm bent at the elbow and under the pillow, while the left one was straight and extended, and came out from under the pillow at the top, his hand limp. Sunstreaker, however, slept on his back. He had one hand resting on his stomach, the other one tucked under his head. He looked as though he didn't move at all over night, whereas Sideswipe looked like he did nothing **but** move for thirty minutes before falling into REM sleep.

She crossed the room and walked over into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind her. She turned the shower on, making sure it was warm before taking all of her armor off and stepping inside. The hot solvent streamed over her shoulders and ran all the way down until it reached the floor of the shower and swirled down the drain. She watched as a chunk of what looked like either rust or a scab slipped out from inside her hip armor, probably from around her hip servo, and barreled down the drain.

She didn't realize or even think that a shower would feel this nice... not until she had to take one. And holy crap, did it ever feel good.

There was a knock at the door before she heard it open.

"Sides, it's me. I gotta use the toilet." a slurred voice rang through the room.

"It-It's not Sideswipe." she called out.

"Oh **slag**. Sorry, I-uh-it- just... sorry, sorry."

Then the door was slammed shut.

 _ **Who was that? What do they want?! I swear to God, they come here again and I'll rip their heads off!**_ the voice spat angrily.

 _Whoa! What's wrong?_ she asked.

 _ **Leave me alone!**_ it roared, them suddenly the voice disappeared.

She furrowed her brows; what? What was going on? Why was the voice so upset?

Something caught in her throat and she choked.

"Oh God, not again." she whimpered, pushing her back against the wall as she slid down to the floor and put her head in between her knees. "No." she whimpered.

She hated going through this the first time she'd been force to deal with it was bad enough, she was hoping that it wouldn't come for a little while. Apparently, she was wrong.

Her Decacycle.

It was Hell for her - everything made her cry, the voice got angry and disappeared on her for the majority of time unless she absolutely **needed** it. All she wanted to do was sleep, cry, and lay in a bed all day. For some reason, the idea of crawling in bed and cuddling with anybody at all seemed to intrigue her more than last time.

She choked back another sob and curled into a fetal position, the hot solvent pouring down on her back and travelling down the length of the tub to slip down the drain. She sobbed, almost aloud.

She had to get up.

She needed to get up.

She whimpered, but pushed herself off the floor. She reached over and turned off the hot solvent. It shut off, the sounds of the liquid turning off reaching her audios.

She whimpered again for an unknown reason to her, but opened the door and exited the shower.

Somehow, she managed to dry off her protoform, careful of the sensitive spots that she knew she had, like right under her chest, or over the scars on her thighs. She had two of them on her left and one on her right - she'd found them a little while ago, and hadn't known about them until then.

She covered herself with the armor again, biting back multiple sobs. She was pretty sure her teeth were about to break open her lip.

She hated this thing! All it did was remind her of everything she wanted to not think of - her lack of memory, how weird her habits that formed out of her lack of memory made her to the others. She had no doubt that there was so many things she did that made everybody look at her kind of funny, or question whether she was joking or not.

The nightmares freaked her out a lot. They had slowed down considerable as of late, but what scared her is that she never knew when they were coming. She could have nights where she slept the whole way through for three weeks straight, but then she'd dream of things that she couldn't remember doing, and suddenly Mirage was shaking her awake. But the number of nightmares she had on a weekly basis had gone down a great deal. Now, most of what the nightmares were even about had changed too. Originally, they started as third person point of view, watching herself do things. Ratchet said sometimes that happened to Cybertronians, where they placed themselves in dreams and they watched themselves do things they would **never** even dream of - almost like fantasies. So she passed the nightmares off as just that - fantasy like nightmares with made up people. But then, they changed again.

Suddenly, they were in first person point of view. Instead of watching herself do things, she was doing them. It was like watching or re watching memories. The problem with that disproving her theory was, it didn't. Despite how real it felt to her in any way, they could still be made up - they _were_ still made up. Right after that, she and Mirage began recharging together, and the nightmares came to an abrupt decrease. Besides that, the nightmares had turned into more like impressions. As if looking through a keyhole, or watching a movie where the CD was scratched and would randomly jump from scene to scene with little glitches in between.

They didn't scare her nearly as much anymore, and became more of boring dreams than anything else.

She choked back another sob as she stumbled out of the bathroom. A golden colored bot - Sunstreaker - sat on the couch, one arm tossed over the back of the couch, the other arm was resting on his elbow and that hand was clenching and unclenching, as if to give him something to do.

She bit her lip to stop the sob that racked her shoulders. She extended her stride to get to the door as fast a possible.

She wasn't fast enough.

"Laceburner?"

A tear spilled over the tip of her eye lids, rolling down her cheeks quickly.

"Lacey? Lacey, what's wrong?"

That was Sideswipe's voice. She hadn't even realized he was awake. How could she not notice he was awake?

Another tear spilled down and she covered her mouth with a hand to stop the sob that bubbled up.

"Lacey?" This time he was more hesitant, a little more worried.

She slumped her shoulders a little as she tried - and this time failed - to hold back a sob.

"Whoa." she heard one of them say for a reason unknown to her.

"Whoa, Lacey what's wrong?"

"If it's that slag-ridden Spy, or that atrocious, flame painted, hideous-"

" _No_." she sobbed, then let herself crumble to the floor, sliding her hands over the back of her helm and stuffing her head in between her knees. She let the sobs loose, and suddenly someone was sitting beside her.

"Hey, what's wrong? Lacey, come on." Sideswipe said.

She didn't stop crying. Her only response was to whimper.

It got quiet, except for the sounds of their engines running, and her sobs. Finally, he stood up beside her, then leaned down and slipped his arms around her. He lifted her up off the ground, and instead she let her head tilt all the way back to hang limp over the side of his arm as she whimpered, another three tears dropping off her chin.

"That's gonna hurt your neck cables Lace. What's wrong?"

Sideswipe placed her down on her bed, where Sunstreaker already lay.

How had she not hear him lay on her bed before? More tears collected in her eyes and she sobbed again. Sideswipe lay beside her before covering the three of them with a blanket. She sobbed again, this time not in control of the volume, and turned to her side.

Sideswipe wrapped his arms around her again, pulling her closer to his chest and locked his arms around her. She sobbed again, her shoulders shaking.

"It's okay." Sideswipe mumbled.

No it wasn't. Whatever was wrong, she didn't know what, but it wasn't alright.

She whimpered, and pulled her knees up to her chest as she turned over.

It stayed quiet for a while, but she could hear their engines growling at each other. Which made it worse.

Why were they mad at each other? They were brothers, they were suppose to love each other! She sobbed harder.

Finally, someone huffed.

She sobbed harder - why were they so upset about whatever they were - **they shouldn't be fighting**.

She didn't think it was possible, but she sobbed harder. Finally, a hand grabbed her by her hip - her good one- and pulled her closer. It was Sunstreaker.

"S'your hip okay?" he grunted.

She choked on a sob, but nodded, despite the fact that more tears ran down her cheeks.

"Lacey, it's okay." Sideswipe said quietly, rubbing her back gently.

She sobbed again, before she wound up coughing.

"Lace, you keep going and you're going to make yourself purge." Sunstreaker warned.

She kept coughing, sobs escaping her lips in between the coughs and the shaky breaths.

"Lacey, it's okay. Whatever's going on, everything is fine. We promise." Sideswipe cut in. He must've gotten closer because the next words were whispered to her, and let a weird feeling travel down her spine with his warm breath. "I promise."

Of course, that didn't stop the tears. Or the sobbing. Or the coughing, the crying. That all kept going, and it didn't stop unil she started coughing so hard that Sideswipe had to get a bucket because she began throwing up all the unprocessed Energon in her tanks.

Then she cried harder because she was throwing up and it was gross, which made her cry more. Which led to coughing, then throwing up, then the cycle started **all** _over_ again.

After thirty minutes of the cycle continuing, she began dry heaving from the lack of anything else to throw up in her tanks.

"She needs Ratchet, Sides, something's wrong." Sunstreaker pointed out as she cried

"I'll go get him, won't be too long." Sideswipe said.

Sunstreaker nodded as she continued crying, and as soon as her coughing began to get heavy he lifted the bucket up so she could dry heave into it.

"It's okay Laceburner, everything's alright. You'll be okay." he said as she whimpered.

"Where is she?" Ratchet asked as the door slid open.

"She's right over here, what's going on?" Sideswipe asked.

"Laceburner, are you alright?" he asked.

She heard the whirs that indicated Ratchet knelt down beside the bed. She whimpered, sobbing again, and Sunstreaker rubbed her back.

"It's _okay_ Lace." he mumbled.

Ratchet swore.

"What? Is she okay?" Sideswipe asked.

"She's fine. Well, besides having an increased risk for a sparkling that she won't be having any time soon."

"What?" Sunstreaker asked.

He gave a frustrated, and obviously tired sigh.

She sobbed aloud - Ratchet was always frustrated or tired, all she wanted to do was take that pain away from him. Let him sleep for a days, and enjoy a week off with Moonracer where he didn't have to worry about anything. God knows he more than deserved it.

"Did I stutter?" he asked sarcastically. "She's on her Decacycle."

"I thought femmes just got really angry and horny when that happened?" Sunstreaker asked blantly.

She whimpered.

"Yes, but a small percentage of femmes react, instead, like... well, like this."

She sobbed harder - why was she the exception? She didn't want to be special.

"So... she's just really emotional?" Sideswipe asked.

"Understatement, but in essence, yes. Right now her processor's going to take everything that happens or is said and turn it so that it's negative and can fuel her crying. Best thing to do is just let her cry and shut up. If she doesn't drink Energon within the next two hours, bring her to the Med Bay immediately. Same thing happened last time. She wouldn't refuel and almost killed herself."

She cried harder; she was such an idiot! How had they not shunned her yet? She was so stupid!

"We will. Thanks Ratchet." Sideswipe said.

The older mech's response was to grunt over his shoulder as he walked out.

She coughed, and Sunstreaker rubbed her back. "It's okay, don't worry. Everybody - every _thing_ is fine."

She sniffed a few times, and he rubbed the back of her neck.

"It's okay." he mumbled.

She whimpered, but then he raised his hand higher to rub in between the creases of her sensory horns and communications atenna array. She let a sigh out and a little whimper that stammered, but Sunstreaker felt her muscles relax a little at the contact so he continued on scratching the top of her helm.

"It's going to be fine, everything's alright." he promised as the weight on the bed shifted as Sideswipe got in with them.

She whimpered and shut her eyes. He pulled her a little closer, being careful of her hip servo to make sure it didn't catch on the blankets, and Sideswipe ran a hand over her back as Sunstreaker continued scratching her head.

They stayed that way for the rest of the night.


	16. Chapter 16

**This is one of those odd chapters where it's not a total filler because there is some stuff that acts as... sort of foreshadowing, it hints at stuff and it is important, but nothing too exciting happens. It's more the detail that's important than anything, because nothing really BIG happens in this one. None the less, I hope you enjoy, and please don't forget to review. Over in Canada its late, so I'm updating as sort of a "GOOD MORNING EVERYBODY" that way you guys (if you like this story) have something to look forward to!**

 **Please don't forget to review, and I hope you liked it! I'm off to bed!**

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

"Hot Rod, can we please watch something else?" Arcee laughed.

"Until you're the one holding the remote, no." the flame painted mech teased.

"That can be possible." she laughed, attempting to reach across Hot Rod's lap in order to grab the remote.

He laughed at her loudly, his optics sparkling when she laughed louder. "Give me the remote!" she laughed aloud. "I could always just get 'Raj to grab it from you."

"Oh please, he's not moving." Hot Rod laughed, looking over the arm of the couch to see one of his closest friends.

Laceburner lay in Mirage's arms, her head tucked underneath his chin. He had one hand up in the top of her helm, scratching at the creases in her armor around her audios. She was using everything she had to contain all of her sobs, keeping them as shaky breaths instead.

"It's okay, don't worry." he'd whisper every so often to her.

She cuddled further into his chest, and he huffed out a chuckle.

She tried stopping the whimper that crawled up her throat, but a little bit of it managed escaped.

Mirage placed his forehead against her head. "It's okay, everybody's fine. Don't worry."

"Hey guys. You mind if we hang with you?"

Flare Up and Mythic walked in, both holding a cube of High Grade.

"Sure." Arcee smiled.

"What's wrong with Laceburner?" Mythic asked.

She whimpered, taking a shaky breath in. What was wrong with her? She'd like to know the answer to that too.

"Nothing. Just her decacycle." Hot Rod explained, then chuckled lowly as Arcee continued to try and reach across his lap and grab the remote that sat in the other hand.

"Oh, she's one of the ten percent? I knew a femme like that before too." Flare Up mentioned as she sat on the couch.

"Where's your mech toys, Myth?" Arcee asked.

Flare Up laughed loudly and Mythic herself giggled.

"Brig. Prowl caught them tampering with First Aid's work or something. Not sure what exactly they did, but..." she trailed off with a shrug.

Laceburner bit her tongue to stop a sob - they were always in the brig, she wished they weren't. They hated it down there. Sunstreaker never had his paint stuff, and Sideswipe always found it insanely boring.

She stirred, and Mirage let go of her. "What?"

She made a mumble that borderlined on a whimper, but stood up off the couch.

"You okay, Lace?" Hot Rod asked.

"Where's she goin'?" Arcee asked in a whisper.

She simply nodded, walking out of the rec room. The door slid shut behind her and she bit her lip as she made her way to her room, the tears filling in her eyes. She unlocked her door and it slid open with a hiss. She kept it open until she reached under her berth and grabbed two cubes of High Grade. Just as she was about to exit, she noticed a thing of wax and a rag sitting on her new coffee table.

Her bottom lip quivered - he always wanted to look perfect, but his paint always got so messy down there. She walked over and subspaced those two things too, before walking out.

She held back yet another sob as she opened the door to the brig, and walked down the steps, making sure that the door shut behind her.

She could see a gleam of gold down the hall, and stopped walking. She grabbed the bar and let out a shaky breath.

 _Get control over yourself._ she spat.

The voice hadn't popped up since yesterday when it originally left, but every once in a while she could feel it rear back up to just make sure everything was fine before disappearing again.

"Hello?" Sideswipe called out. "Mythic?"

"It ain't Mythic, dumbaft. She wouldn't bother coming down here." Sunstreaker grumbled.

She whimpered quietly to herself, but pushed herself off the bar for support and headed down. This time Prowl had them seperated into two seperate cells beside each other, but they still sat as close as possible. Sideswipe sat on the end of his bed, and Sunstreaker was doing the same. Danger in seperation.

"Lacey? What are you doin' down here?" Sideswipe asked.

She sniffled again, and gulped down some spit that pooled in her mouth. She felt the knot in her throat tighten, and took a shaky breath in before she opened her subspace. A cube of High Grade landed in each hand and she slipped them in each cell.

She bit her lip as a sob got caught in her throat before clenching her eyes closed and dropping her head to her chest.

Sideswipe stood up and picked up the cube into his hands. He smiled, and his hand slid in between the bars to touch her arm. "Lacey, there is no reason to cry. Thank you."

Of course there was no reason to cry. She was just an over sensitive idiot who cried at everything.

A hand grabbed her shoulder and squeezed her in reassurance. Her bottom lip quivered as she looked up at whoever it was.

The glow of Sunstreaker's eyes reflected and bounced off her dull black armor and illuminated the area around them more efficently than the lights did. She'd have to bring that up with Prowl next time she went to work. See if she could get them changed or replaced.

"Thank you, Laceburner." For a second she thought his voice was deeper than usual, but quickly realized it was just her brain playing tricks on her.

Then she remembered his wax, and pulled it out of her subspace.

His optics shined brighter slightly, and he looked up at her visor, hoping their optics were connected even though he couldn't tell through her **stupid** visor. His face returned to a monotone expression, but it was ever so slightly laced with gratefulness.

"Thank you."

A sob, a rather loud one, escaped her lips without permission, echoing through the halls as a tear or two dripped off her chin. She took a sharp, shaky breath in and nodded, then whimpered. She turned and headed back down the hallway and up the stairs. The door clicked shut behind her and the knot in her throat tightened as she placed her hands on her knees.

"What were you doing down there?"

Mirage walked up to her and rested his hand on her shoulder.

"What, am I not allowed down there anymore?" she asked, and it was followed up by the smallest of sobs. She clenched her jaw when she realized how mean that sounded and the tears fell to the ground. "They both hate it down there, mm." she whimpered.

His oxygen tanks re-cycled and his exhaust pipes huffed out a dark gray cloud of exhaust that disappeared into the air. He reached out to place his hands on her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. She whimpered as her arms wrapped around his torso, her digits biting into the muscles that clung to his body and flexed every once in a while without him realizing.

"I'm sorry. You didn't do anything wrong." he said.

She sniffed in air shakily and he tightened his arms around her.

"Come on, let's get back to the rec room. Flare Up and Mythic ganged up with Arcee so she got the remote now. Hot Rod's busy pouting, but they've got some different movie on now." he chuckled. "S'that sound good, signora?"

She nodded, and the two of them headed back to the rec room together.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

 _Tap._

 _Tap._

 _Tap._

 _Tap._

"Laceburner."

"Sorry."

...

 _Tap._

 _Tap._

 _Tap._

 _Tap._

"Laceburner!"

"Apologies."

...

 _Tick._

 _Tick._

 _Tick._

 _Tick._

"Laceburner of Cybertron!"

She blushed. "Sorry Prowl."

He pointed a finger across her desk, in the direction of her main drawer. "Stress ball." he reminded.

She smiled a little, a blush creeping up her cheeks and spreading down to her chest a little. She opened her drawer and reached in to grab her stress ball. It reshaped itself under the pressure of her digits and she moved it around in the plam of her hand.

"Thank you." Prowl mumbled.

She smiled sheepishly, but kept on working.

The last thing she expected was for Prowl to suddenly growl lowly as his engine snarled.

"What's wr-"

"Those fragging **twins**. I swear to Primus I'm going to have Ratchet weld them to the floor of the brig one of these days." he growled.

She furrowed her brows. "Hmm?"

"Those blasted twins. Thinking it's funny ruining official documents on Bumblebee's recon reports. Those two are on a roll, first the accident with First Aid, then they replaced Ironhide's ammo in his cannons with neo-foam practice golf balls, afterwards they messed with Jazz's work, and now **this**. I swear I will have them dismantled." he growled.

She hummed as she went back to looking at her work. "They can't be **that** bad."

Prowl gave a half chuckle that was obviously sarcastic and faked. "You say that because you're a nice femme. You're gentle, with an enormous amount of manners - you're empathetic to everyone, and no body gets on your nerves because you're patience goes on for Primus knows how long. You used to be close to them, so you don't understand _just_ how much they," he ground his teeth together. "Grind my gears." he finished.

She bit the inside of her cheek to tame the fresh round of uncalled-for emotions that surfaced for an unknown reason, instead training her eyes on her work. He must've interpretted her silence the right way because he looked across his desk and his eyes bore into her face.

"Laceburner, when was the last time you had a decent cube of Energon?" he asked, his voice returning to it's regular monotone.

She took a quiet, shaky breath in, then shrugged. She heard his chair scrape against the ground as he walked around the desks and suddenly his shadow covered her work space from where he stood behind her. His hands reached down and around her to grasp her own and stop her work.

"Laceburner, go take a break for an hour or so. Have some Energon, and only come back when your ready and your emotions are under control again. This is simply what remains of your Decacycle affecting you. Go." he said lowly, and she nodded.

She got out of her chair quickly, dropping her stress ball onto the desk and not seeing it as it fell to the floor, nor did she see Prowl bend down and pick it up, placing it in her main drawer again. She closed the door behind her and walked down the hall quickly, not seeing Optimus Prime, who was walking towards her so to go back to his own office, busy reading over a data pad. She only managed to see his feet through her tear filled eyes as it was too late, and she slammed right into him.

"Oof." she groaned as she was sent to the floor, landing on her butt.

He looked up, his eyes landing on the little black femme whose armor trembled a little before locking itself to her protoform, and she took a shaky breath in.

"My apologies, Laceburner. I should have been looking where I walk." he apologized, offering a hand to help her up.

She looked at his large hand, then opted to stand on her own. She grabbed her right arm with her left hand, uncomfortable and simply nodded, looking down at the ground. "S-S-Sorry sir."

He narrowed his optics at her face, curious. According to both Ratchet and Prowl, her confidence and had been boosted and she wasn't nearly as shy around many bots as before; this behaviour should be odd for her. Only upon further inspection did he see the tears that were spilling over her cheeks.

"Are you alright, Laceburner?" he asked.

She nodded, keeping her eyes glued to the ground in front of his feet.

"What happened?" he asked.

She shook her head - nothing, she was just an over emotional **idiot**.

"Where are you heading?" he asked again.

She gulped. "R-Rec room-m. P-P-P-Prowl told me-e to refuel." she drew out her _"l"_ in a stutter.

"Would you like me to accompany you there?" he asked.

She shook her head. "You ha-have much m-more important st-stuff to do."

He chuckled, placing a hand on her small shoulder.

"My priority is the wellbeing and safety of my Autobots. You are one of them, Laceburner. Please let me rephrase - would you _allow_ me to accompany you to the recreational room?" he asked.

With another gulp, she nodded. Unbeknownst to her, he let a smile slip on to her face, and the two began walking away.

"I've been meaning to ask you - how is your situation with the," his voice dropped just in case anyone was around so that only she could hear, "voice you have?" he asked, hoping to distract her for her own emotions.

She shrugged, wiping some of the tears off her cheeks. "I-I-I don't know. She's not around right now. When I'm on my Decacycle, she gets really angry and offended easily, as well as violent, so we made a plan together to avoid anything dangeorus. Now she just disappears and only comes back after it's over." she explained much more confidently.

So that's what it was; he nodded in understanding. Although her reaction was much different from Laceburner's, Elita One detested her Decacycle as well.

"Other than that, she's good. She gets a little restless because of how much bedrest we were on, and all she wanted to do was move, and she came up with a lot of theoretical... emergency plans during that time, but now that we work again and keep our mind busy she's better."

"Emergency plans?" he inquired.

She simply nodded. "Yeah," her eyes went distant as she stared out in front of them. "They get really dark and gruesome. Like, escape plans for if I ever need to get away. She doesn't encourage me or anything like that anymore, but whenever I feel like I'm in a dangerous situation she reminds me of them, or makes a new one. I try to ignore them because I know I'll never actually use them, but the thing is I know they're **there**." Then she shook her head. "Sorry."

He chuckled. "No worries, Laceburner, I assure you."

They continued in silence for about a minute before it was interuptted again.

"Was it pretty?" she asked quietly.

He looked down at her. "Pardon?"

"Our home." she mumbled. "Was it pretty?" He came to a stop and she did the same, looking up at him.

"Why do you ask?" he wondered.

He noticed her eyes got distant again as she looked at the wall behind him.

"All I can remember is this planet. It's violent, volatile, dangerous, it's dying, and it's dominant native species isn't all that welcoming to newcomers. But it's beautiful. Every night the sky puts on a colour show, and every morning it plays an encore act. The scenery is so full of life that it **literally** bounces right back. The colors are vibrant and loud, but they blend together well. Yet, it's all I can remember. It's organic, and I'm... not. I can't remember anything from home. Everybody around here probably thinks of it once a day at least, whether it be their home, their city, their old regular routes to work, their friends or the places they all used to hang out in. And all I have are fakes. Imaginations of what it looks like, and sketches in my head based off my nightmares of what some things may appear like. Mirage said when he lived in the... the Towers, he used to go to the highest point on the top floors and look out over the city of," she furrowed her brow. "I-I-Ia...Iacon. He said sometimes it kept him mezmerized for hours. Was it really that pretty?"

She looked up at him, her visor a bright black that was almost a highlighted blue. It was akin to a young child looking up at their parent with big, wide eyes. He smiled.

"It was. It was truly a shame that we had to leave the planet behind, but without the All Spark there was no hope for Cybertron to return to what it once was. We had to move on in order to survive, so we're making the best with what we have." he sighed. "I'm glad you are able to find the beauty on this planet. Very few of us can in times like these. It's a good quality to have." he smiled down at her.

The two continued on their way to the rec room and she thanked him for accompanying him to make sure she actually got there. He nodded at her, telling her he was always willing to help her with anything she needed before heading back to his office.

She grabbed a cube of Energon and sat down on the four person couch. She propped her feet up on the coffee table, turning the TV on. A theme song from some movie or other played out of the large surround sound speakers that Jazz had installed a few weeks ago, and she popped open the cube of blue liquid.

She retracted her visor lazily, rubbing her eyes. Honestly, she hated her dependency on her visor - it restricted her view all the time, she could never scratch her eyes when there was an itch, and in the moment all it did was bother her. But it also had that HUD screen that reminded her of the one you'd see when playing that stupid video game, Halo. It hid her eyes from everybody so that they couldn't tell if she was awake or asleep, what she was thinking, how she was feeling. In the long run, it was one of her best tools. That didn't mean she had to like it though.

The rec room doors slid open suddenly and Sunstreaker came in mumbling angrily about something, his armor lacking the usual shine that he spent hours rubbing into the perfect coats of paint. It took him about two seconds before he looked up and froze in his tracks as he connected eyes with her. As quickly as she could, her visor slipped back into place and darkened to as black as it could go.

"S-Sorry." she mumbled.

He shook his head in dismissal as he walked past her and headed over to the Energon creator. She watched the muscles under his armor (that clung to his protoform like a literal second skin) flex and undulate as he moved around. Once he finished what he was doing he sat down two couch cushions away from her. Neither of them said anything as he propped his feet up on the table as well. He didn't ask what they were watching: Sideswipe didn't walk in behind him, nor did Mythic. One of the human newscaster on the TV gestured to the screen behind her. With a sigh, she leaned forward and picked up the remote to change the channel, drinking back some Energon from her cube. She switched the channel three or four times before she settled on a program that was interesting enough to keep her entertained.

The two remained in a comfortable silence in the thirty more minutes that it took Laceburner to finish her Energon. Once she was positive that she had reign over her emotions, she placed the empty cube in the recycler and placed the remote on the coffee table.

She took note of the way Sunstreaker was picking at the plating on his plams with his fingers and narrowed her eyes; he only did that when he was thinking hard about something.

"You okay?" she asked.

He furrowed his brow as he looked up at her. "Why?"

"Well, for one, you didn't _deny_ that something was wrong," she pointed out. "And secondly, you're picking at the plating of your hands and you only do that when there's something heavy on your mind." she answered.

He raised an eyebrow and adorned a confused look on his face. "You pay attention to deatil." he grumbled.

She shrugged non-chalantly. "Answers lie in the details, don't they?"

He narrowed his eyes **ever** so slightly, almost unnoticeably.

He was the one who said that to her.

He huffed out a laugh through his nose, looking back at the screen as he continued to pick at his plam plating. She crossed her arms.

"Why are you still even here?" he asked. "Shouldn't you be at work?"

She shrugged again. "What's on your mind?"

He clenched both fists this time with a huff. "Nothing."

With furrowed brows, she crouched down and reached out to pick up his fist, uncurling it in her left hand. With her right, she ran her lithe, little fingers over his palm ever so slightly. It was rough and calloused (more so than usual), with tears in certain places that were bleeding, scabs in others that were healing, and blisters that were fresh and probably at least somewhat painful. Looking at what he had done to his hand was a stark contrast compared to how he usually tried to keep himself and his armor. She ran the tips of her fingers over the scabs softly, playing along the lines of his palms.

" **You** don't don't do _this_ to yourself over _**nothing**_." she said, looking up to lock eyes with him, and pulled a rag out of her subspace to wipe down his hand until it was clean, the only blemish being the cuts (that were no longer bleeding) and the blisters that she didn't want to pop. He watched her work with an intensity in his eyes that her concentration disabled her from noticing.

She finished quietly, putting the rag away. "There," she smiled lightly. "Now. If you don't want to talk to me about it and tell me what's going through your head, then don't. That's completely fine because it is none of my business if you don't want it to be. But at least then tell Sideswipe." she said, looking up at him with soft eyes. "You can't keep stuff that heavy in there forever, Sunstreaker. Eventually, it all gets out."

With that, she stood up and headed out the door.


	17. Chapter 17

**I'm a horrible person. A horrible, horrible person. Yes indeed, a horrible person with massive writer's block :( but here, Chapter 17! I hope everybody enjoys! Don't forget to leave a review, they help a lot (Cliché, but true ;) )**

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

If there was one thing Laceburner hated about her job, it would probably be the maintenance aspect of it over the dinobots. Not that she didn't _adore_ them from the bottom of her Spark - she did. Without them she didn't really know where she'd be. However, she was also in charge of their **physical** maintenance. More importantly, their baths. Due to their size, they couldn't bathe in the regular showers, and apparently the base couldn't afford to build one that would cater towards that many giant-sized bots that often broke things, including buildings, so instead they pawned off the job to Laceburner.

For the most part, Sludge and Grimlock were good during their own individual scrub downs, but the rest of them wouldn't stand still even if it meant saving their own lives. Strafe and Swoop kept picking on Slash while Laceburner was working on removing dried dirt, so he kept moving away from their nipping beaks, forcing Laceburner to follow as she worked. Then the two fliers were bothering Scorn by flying around and every once in a while swooping down to bite at him or claw at him, and in retaliation the giant mech would swing his spiked tail around in their directions. Of course, Slash didn't see it fair that the two fliers failed to pick on Slug during his wash, so he decided to bother the Triceratops, who kept charging the large, metal velociraptor. Then it took thirty minutes of yelling at them and a command-like roar from Grimlock before Strafe and Swoop ceased flying and landed on the ground for their turns, and at that point everybody besides Sludge and Grimlock saw it fit to basically torment them back. Strafe became Swoop's sole body guard, but it was one against four so all it did was make her life ten times harder. Then it was Strafe's turn to be washed. As much as she thought washing **Swoop** was hard, she never would have imagined it would be ten times more difficult to wash **Strafe**. At least with Strafe he had two heads, which meant double the protection, and he could repel two of them at the same time. Swoop was working with a shortage of... heads, apparently. Managing to stay on their backs and constantly balanced proved to be probably the hardest task of all of them. Grimlock proved himself to be the only one who would stand completely still for her since **nobody** dared to bother him.

"I swear, you guys - Slash, would you stop it?! - Slug enoug- Scorn stop it! Guys!" Laceburner yelled in frustration and Strafe backed up from Scorn's spiked tail.

 _ **You know they aren't gonna stop, they're like six year old brothers.**_

Swoop screeched as he flew down to grab Scorn's back - or at least scratch it - with his claws, the flapping of his wings forcing all the debris and dirt aound them to go flying as Scorn turned and aimed his tail for the single headed flier instead. Strafe - who's back she currently stood on, working out the dirt that collected int he crease between his necks with a sponge - sensed his partner-in-crime to be in danger and screeched back at Scorn. He jumped forward to avoid Slug's charge, and one of his heads leaned down to snap at Slash, only for his jaws to close around empty air.

 _Six year old brothers aren't this bad._

 _ **Very true.**_

"Guys! Ugh!" she groaned, spreading her feet a little wider to keep her balance when the bird swung around quickly in order to scream at Slash again. He spread his wings widely in a threatening manner towards the metal Raptor and his jaws opened as he screeched again.

"Boys, enou- whoa, hey!"

Strafe, in an attempt to make himself look larger and more threatening, pushed himself up onto his back feet, flapping his wings quickly towards his oncomers, causing Laceburner to completely lose her balance. She went sommersaulting down and off his back and landed on the cement in a heap. A warning flashed across her HUD too quickly for her to read. She rolled herself on to her stomach and looked up. Strafe cawed loudly at Slug but jumped out of the way as he charged. She widened her eyes, and two seconds later rolled out of the way as quickly as she could, Slug's feet just narrowly missing her head.

Finally, Grimlock - who had been doing very little up until now - stood up and transformed into his dino mode. Once the transformation was complete he looked over towards the group and roared loudly at them. They all froze, looking over at him. Transforming back into his bot form, he got down on one knee and offered he a hand to help her up. When she went to use her right hand pain shot up her arm so she changed in favour for grabbing it with her left hand and he helped her on to her feet. An engine revved loudly as Jazz came speeding around the corner.

"You okay, Lace? What happened?" he asked.

 _ **We're fine.**_

She nodded, craddling her arm. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"What d'ya do to your arm?" he asked.

"I-I'm not sure." she shrugged.

He walked over and looked at her arm, picking it up into his own hands.

"Looks like a dislocation. Jolt'll pop it back inta place for ya and you'll be good to go." he said.

 _ **Great. Med Bay**_ _ **again**_ _ **.**_

Grimlock grunted at her and she raised her good hand to run it over his leg. "Thanks Grim." she mumbled, walking alongside Jazz across the tar mac.

"I saw that fall from all the way across the tar mac, it looked pretty rough. Ya sure you're okay?" he insisted.

 _ **We told you we're fine.**_

 _Be nice._

 _ **I am bein' nice!**_

She nodded at him, recraddling her arm to hold it properly. "D-Don't worry. I'm not made of glass, I-I don't break so easily. I feel bad for how much I'm in the Med Bay though."

He laughed. "Don't be. Y'ain't nearly as bad as Skids and Mudflap are. Or Bumblebee, that youngling always manages to get himself hurt. I swear, it's his favourite bay here. And Sunny's got a habit for puttin' bots in there too, more specifially Mirage. The two of 'em just have a knack for hurtin' each other."

She smiled, more out of being polite than anything else, and they continued on their way to the Med Bay.

"Aye, Jolt. We need your help!" he called out.

 _ **Couldn't have been quieter?**_

The blue colored mech looked up from what he was doing, and smiled upon seeing the two of them, "Evening Jazz, Laceburner." then his eyes landed on her arm. "What happened?"

Jazz chuckled. "She works with the Dinobots, what do you think happened?"

-Jolt laughed and nodded. "Good enough. Here, let me see."

She stepped forward and Jolt inspected her arm. He touched one area of her elbow, just below the joint, and she hissed.

"Sorry." he mumbled, "It's just a dislocation, I can pop it back into spot easily."

She nodded and braced herself. Jazz grabbed her other shoulder with his hand and Jolt grabbed her elbow. "Ready?" he asked.

 _ **No**_

"Yes." she nodded.

"On three. One,"

He yanked her elbow back into place early, and she turned around and groaned through clenched teeth.

 _ **Oh you motherfragger, you said three, not one! Holy Hell, that hurt, motherfu-!**_

 _I remember a time when you would've told me to suck it up._

 _ **Shut up.**_

"There ya go. Hold on, let me go get a stabilizing bolt, I'll install it for you." he said and rustled through a drawer to find a large looking bolt. He installed it into something under her armor and patted her on the shoulder. "Voila, good to go."

She smiled lightly at him. "Thanks."

"And be careful around those guys, alright? I know you're close to 'em and we're **all** really glad there's someone who knows how to.. handle them, but they can be really unattentive to detail and hurt or break stuff around them."

She chuckled. "You would be blown away if you knew how many times I've been told that. Anyway, thanks but I gotta go finish washing off Strafe or the soap will dry up and ruin his armor. Thanks guys." she called as she walked out of the room.

Jazz crossed his arms and leaned against the end of a berth. "You were at the the last debriefin', right?" he asked.

Jolt nodded, "Yeah, so?"

"So, did Optimus say anythin' about her?"

"You weren't there?" Jolt asked, surprised.

The TIC shook his head. "I had to go check on the Wreckers with Hound, and I was runnin' interference on some stuff over there for Prime."

Jolt nodded, "Well, Prowl brought up how well she's improved in all fields, including her social skills, and how continually impressed he is with the intesnsity and magnitude of her work, Ironhide mentioned that he was thinking of starting hand to hand combat training with her as a precaution for if she's on a mission and something like the incident with Starscream happens again, Ratchet brought up her medical records and a bunch of that stuff, and of course the humans voice their worries on if she's working for someone or not, but that got shut down pretty quickly. They're still trying to decide if where she's placed now is the best fit for her or not, but it looks like she's headed in a good direction. Ratchet's still curious about her background and how it affects her now, though." he answered.

"Wait, Red Alert didn't jump on the bandwagon and bring up a whole bunch o' those conspiracy theories o' his or nothin'?"

Jolt shook his head. "No, he doesn't seem to be too worried about her anymore. If he is, he doesn't protray it anyways."

Jazz nodded. "So that's it?"

"As far as I can remember, yeah. Why?" the dark blue painted mech asked.

"Nothin', just... I've been noticin' the way the twins are lookin' at her lately."

Jolt scrunched his optic ridges together. "She's been here for over a year, you're just noticing the looks that Skids and Mudflap give her **now**? Primus, those two are obsessed with her."

Jazz shook his head with a chuckle. "Yeah, those two sparklets follow her around like she's their number one celebrity crush, but I ain't talkin' about them. I'm talkin' about the Terror Twins. Every time she's not payin' attention they start lookin' at her like she's their moon."

Jolt raised an optic ridge. "You mean their sun?"

Jazz chuckled once and looked over at him. "Ya can't look at the sun without squintin' and lookin' away soon after, Jolt. But the moon? It ain't that bright but still illuminates the sky, and you can stare at it for hours on end, but when you look away and close your eyes you'll still see it. And those two look at her like she's their lifeline whenever she ain't lookin'. Mythic almost caught 'em once too, but Sideswipe managed to talk to 'em outta **that** week without a frag."

Jolt shrugged. "I do my best to stay out of the way of base-gossip. You get tangled up in that and it's like an inescapable spider's web."

Jazz hummed with a nod, looking deep in thought. "Still. I ain't got a clue what they're thinkin' but whatever it is, it's startin' to worry me. 'Specially 'cos she's hangin' with 'Raj so much, and Sunny can't ever seem to get along with that mech."

"It's the testosterone." Ratchet answered as he walked out of his office, obviously having just heard everything Jazz said. "The two of them could easily be classified as Alpha mechs, and now there's a pretty femme who's nice to everyone and interests the two of them. She's the first femme that the two of them have been romantically interested in, in a **long** time so their helmbutting over her without realizing that it's over her."

"Ratch, were you just-"

"Eavesdropping? No. That is an immature and childish thing to do. I was simply working on some reports for Prowl and happened to overhear your conversation. You are correct though, I've noticed that look in Sideswipe's optics everytime the conversation switches to Laceburner. I'm not quite sure what's going on though."

"What d'ya mean?" Jazz asked.

"Well, twins can only sparkbond with twins. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, they both know that. Only reason they're quote on quote "together" with Mythic is because she's a good berth warmer. So why they're allowing themselves to think about Laceburner like that is beyond me." Ratchet huffed.

Jazz shrugged, looking back at the door. "Still, I'd like to know what's goin' through their processors."

"Of course you would, Jazz. You're you." Jolt said as he went back to working on whatever he was working on before.

Jazz smiled. "Aye! Don't be hatin'! I think I'm pretty great."

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

"Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Mirage, Hot Rod, to Optimus Prime's office immediately please. Thank you."

Laceburner glanced up from her desk as Prowl stood up from his chair .

"They didn't call you." she said, confusedly.

 _ **Idiot.**_

"I am aware. With those four in a room together, Prime needs all the help he can get handling them. I'll be back."

She nodded as she kept working. The door opened and slid shut behind Prowl as he left, and Laceburner went back to assessing the reports that Red Alert had given her earlier. Most of the work she did consisted of reading stuff, then staring at a screen while it fixed errors, then handing it in to either Prowl or Optimus Prime, and then staring at a screen for another few hours and watching the Energon detectors and making sure the Long-Range Defense Systems weren't picking anything up. It was both boring and amusing at the same time.

Today, Red Alert had handed in his monthly recap report, which meant she was reading over thirty days worth of reports, editing the mistakes, rewording some of his... poor choices in language or when he decided to use Cybertronian vernacular instead of the proper English terms. Although she did sometimes find what he thought would be acceptable to the human government to be funny. Like the one time he saw it fit that the government be told that Ironhide was an, "aging bucket of bolts with fried circuits in places that even Ratchet couldn't fix", or when he decided to call Ultra Magnus an "uptight slag heap with control issues and a serious overduement for a good fragging". Prowl had to have a talk to him after that one, but that didn't stop anything, if anything it got worse. Laceburner wasn't bothered by it at all though - sometimes they'd make her day.

She managed to go through two reports, Hound swung in to give in his reports, she got two of those done, then the public comm link came on with the sound of static.

 _ ***(***_ Laceburner to Optimus Prime's office... _**now!**_ _***)***_

She jumped at the gravity of Prowl's tone, but saved her work as quickly as possible and ran out of the room and down the hall, towards the Prime's office.

 _You taking off?_ she asked.

The voice grumbled in her head. _**Yeah, scream if you need me.**_ It sounded tired, and just like that it was gone.

She came to a stop at his door, and knocked.

"Enter."

Optimus Prime's voice was always so deep that sometimes it surprised her with how loud he could yell, and she jumped but opened the door and walked inside to a mess. The four chairs that had been sitting in front of his desk were thrown against the wall closest to the door she entered from, two of them in pieces. Optimus Prime's desk was on a slant as if someone had kicked it a little, there was a hole in the floor, and an near identical one in the wall, as well as papers everywhere and a few broken datapads scattered along the floor. Jazz and Ratchet were holding back Mirage and Hot Rod on one side of the room, while Ironhide and Optimus Prime were holding Sideswipe and Sunstreaker back on the opposite side.

"Enough." Ironhide growled in Sideswipe's ear, who's engine (alongside his twin's) was set a harsh growl.

Prowl rounded Optimus Prime's desk from the back room that always assumed was his private quarters and looked at her. "Please do your best to ignore the imbeciles at the moment, we have a mission that we'd like to know if you'll take part in. These are the details." he said, offering her a data pad.

With furrowed brows, she took a few steps forward and took the data pad into her hands, reading over it. She looked up at Prowl with widened optics and raised eyebrows. "More of us?"

He nodded. "We picked up their signatures a few weeks ago, but we haven't been able to confirm which faction they reside with. We're hoping they're either Autobots or neutrals, and we were going to attempt to send these four, but as you can see it looks as though that plan is in the toilet. So, if you accept, we're going to let you choose which two will accompany you, there will be a mission debriefing later tonight and you'll go to their estimated crash site tomorrow morning at 0600 hours."

She bit the inside of her cheek, and debated. She'd rather go with Hot Rod and Mirage, but Mirage was a spy - he was better at reconnaissance and espionage - and Hot Rod was good, but if the two signals were Decepticons, or Decepticons showed up, she'd need two top notch fighters. That was Sideswipe and Sunstreaker; in terms of frontliners and skilled fighters, they were as good as you could possibly get, and she understood why Optimus Prime put up with them. They were valuable pieces in his arsenal, and without them the Autobots probably would have lost countless battles that they won instead.

"I'll do it." she nodded.

"Perfect, I would assume you'd like to take-"

"The twins." she cut him off distractedly, reading through the pages on the datapad.

And then everybody was staring at her oddly. She looked up at Prowl once she finished what she was reading, then looked around slowly to see everybody staring at her. She blushed and swallowed.

"W-What?"

"The twins? You want Sides and Sunny to accompany ya?" Jazz asked.

Sunstreaker, who was too busy looking at her in shock (as was everybody else) was too busy standing in shock to even growl at the name he was called. She turned to look at Jazz and nodded.

She looked at him. "Sorry. But Mirage's a spy, he doesn't specialize in hand to hand combat and if these aren't Autobots, or worse the Decepticons come to retrieve them, I need backup that can fend them off long enough for me to scout our route out, and also mechs fast enough that can keep up with me on our way out. Those two are the only ones who really fit the description."

Everybody remained stunned at her answer, and she looked back at Prowl. "I'll do it, I want Sideswipe and Sunstreaker with me when I go. Well, if they're good with it too."

The two bots looked over to where Optimus Prime and Ironhide had the twins, immobilized. They were silent for a few seconds before Sideswipe nodded.

"We'll do it." he answered for the both of them, but nothing about Sunstreaker's appearance or actions suggested that he was opposed to Sideswipe's acceptance.

"Alright. In three hours we'll have you three go through a debriefing, and you'll be dispatched tomorrow morning." Prowl explained.

"Alright." she nodded, and Ironhide let Sideswipe go with a shove.

"Hey, watch it." he grumbled.

"Don't make me pin you to a target and use you for practice you two-bit pile of rust." Ironhide growled at him as Optimus Prime let go of Sunstreaker.

"The two of you, you may return to your posts now." Optimus Prime ordered.

Sunstreaker grumbled, "Yes sir."

Laceburner headed out the door first, holding it open just long enough that Sideswipe could grab it before she headed back towards her office.

"Wait, Lacey, hold up!" Sideswipe called behind her.

She came to a full stop and looked at him. "Yes?"

He slowed to a stop in front of her, having to look down and hoping what he was looking at through her visor was her optics. "Why'd you decide to take us?" he asked.

She furrowed her brow, her head tilting a little. "I-I told you guys. The mission's success rate sky rockets when it's the three of us as opposed to 'Raj, Hot Rod, and I. It nearly quadruples in the amount of successful outcomes if it's the three of us that go." she answered.

He nodded. "Alright, we'll-uh... see you in a few at the debriefing then, I guess."

She offered him a tight smile "See you then."

She turned and walked down the hall and into her and Prowl's office. What she didn't see was the smile that crawled onto Sideswipe's face and the fist that he thrust punched into the air in what looked like success for him.


	18. Chapter 18

**Hello! No, I'm not dead. Yes, this is an update! I'll have some kind of a rant-planation for my ending AN, so if you're interested in my absence and it's reason, read that. If not, I sincerely hope you enjoy because of how long I made y'all wait! Don't forget to review if you wanna! Love you guys!**

 ** _X-X-X-X-X-X-X_**

 _{:: So what are we doing? ::}_

Laceburner almost rolled her eyes. _{:: You two_ _ **were**_ _there for the mission debriefing, right? ::}_

 _{:: Yeah, we were_ there _. Doesn't mean we remember what we were told_ _ **yesterday**_ _. ::}_ Sunstreaker retorted.

 _ **Kill him.**_ the voice snarled.

Laceburner scoffed at both the voice's reaction and Sunstreaker's response, and sped up.

 _{:: Then_ _ **maybe**_ _you should've paid attention. Just shut up do what I say once we get there. ::}_ she responded.

 _ **That's my girl**_. The voice approved.

 _I'm just trying to get the mission done._ she responded.

She sped around a bend in the road, her engine revving a high pitch. If there was one thing she learned to love on missions, it was the smell of her tire rubbers against the cement, and the sound of the wind whipping past her.

 _ ***(* Laceburner, you guys are approaching the estimated landing spot, proceed with caution. *)***_ Prowl sent over the public comm links.

 _ ***(* Copy. *)***_ she sent back, slowing down.

 _ **We gotta get rid of these guys so that you scout the area without distraction.**_

 _Got'ya._

She pulled into a next to empty parking lot, settling beside a black GMC Yukon truck, and she shut her lights off, settling down. Sideswipe pulled up beside her, Sunstreaker beside him, and the two of them quieted down too.

 _{:: What are we doing now? ::}_ Sideswipe asked.

 _{:: You guys are staying here. Don't move until I tell you or ask you to. ::}_ she answered, putting her lights back on and backing out of her spot.

She exited the parking lot, making sure nobody was around before driving across the road and down a small ATV trail. She went slow as to make sure she didn't harm anything, and extended her EMP field.

 _ ***(* I'm not picking up any Energon signatures or non-organic life signatures. *)***_ she said as she stopped. _***(* You sure this is where they're going to land Prowl? *)***_

 _ ***(* 99.754 percent positive. The two signatures have breached Earth's atmosphere, they should be landing any second now. *)***_ he reassured.

She huffed and transformed up. There was a boom and she looked up to see a fireball barreling down from the sky. The fire around it dissipated, and her optics twirled around and twitched as they focused in on the metal object. It swirled around in the sky as it barreled down towards the ground quickly, passing it over her head.

Where ever it slammed into the ground, it slammed so hard that she almost lost her balance. She transformed down and drove in the direction.

 _{:: Need back up? ::}_ Sunstreaker asked.

 _ **No, leave us alone afthole. We can do our job.**_

 _{:: Not yet, wait. Don't move until I tell you to. ::}_ she said strictly.

 _{:: Mm, a bossy femme who knows what she wants. That's_ _ **fraggin'**_ _hot. ::}_ Sideswipe said quietly.

 _{:: You said that over the comms, dumbaft. ::}_ Sunstreaker said.

 _{:: Wh-I-di- ::}_

 _{:: Gotta go. ::}_ she cut him off before the conversation could get any more awkward, and shut the comm link down.

She transformed up once again and approached the crash site slowly as to not draw attention to herself.

A colorful mech was stepping out of the crashed pod, alongside some kind of four legged, Cybertronian-ike animals. They all spoke in Cybertronian towards each other, and the animals followed the mech around like dogs to their human. He had an Autobot insignia on his chest that stood out proudly.

 _ ***(* Visual on target. He's accompanied by others. *)***_

 _ ***(* Other**_ _ **s**_ _ **? There was**_ _two_ _ **signatures, not three. *)***_ Prowl emphasized.

 _ ***(* Affirmative. By the looks of it, they're all Autobots. Not a single Decepticon signal or insignia around. *)***_ she answered, switching comm links.

 _{:: I need help. ::}_

 _{:: What's wrong?! ::}_

 _{:: We're coming! ::}_

 _{:: No, it's not that! It's just, he's speaking Cybertronian and I can't communicate with him. I need a translator. ::}_ She answered.

 _{:: We're on our way. ::}_ Sunstreaker responded.

Laceburner stepped out from her hiding spot, and not even two seconds later the mech spotted her. He raised a blaster in her direction, spitting out what sounded like harsh words as four legged ones snarled.

She put her hands in the air just as Sideswipe and Sunstreaker came up. Sideswipe transformed first.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." he said, standing in front of Laceburner protectively.

Then his language switched to what she was assuming was Cybertronian. After about ten seconds, the bot put his blaster down and began communicating on his own.

 _ ***(* Optimus? *)***_ Sunstreaker sent over the comms.

 _ ***(* Copy, Sunstreaker, what do you need? *)***_ Optimus responded.

 _ ***(* We'll need you and Ratchet to debrief the mech and allow him to download the languages. *)***_ he said.

 _ ***(* Copy, Ratchet, Ironhide, and myself are on our way. *)***_ he said.

 _ ***(* Designation? *)***_ Prowl asked.

 _ ***(* It's Blaster. *)***_

 _ ***(* Oh for the love o' Primus, great. *)***_ Jazz sighed.

 _ ***(* Is he a bad mech or something? *)***_ Laceburner asked.

 _ ***(* I'll, uh... tell ya when ya come back. *)***_ he promised.

Laceburner watched Sideswipe talk to the mech that stood in front of him. One of the animal looking bots walked around Sideswipe and up to her. She turned her hand over to let it be palm-up, and he approached her slowly. He moved closer, sniffing her hand.

Suddenly, he snarled loudly, baring his teeth. Before Lacey could comprehend, someone had picked her up and placed her behind them. Sunstreaker growled darkly, his blades sliding out of their casing, standing in front of her defensively.

"Whoa, whoa! Sunny!" Sideswipe yelled.

The animal, what looked like a white tiger, jumped back and crouched into a defensive position, baring his massive incisors and narrowing his eyes as his snarl got louder and more aggressive.

Laceburner stepped forward and placed her hand on the top of his arm. "Sunstreaker, it's okay." she mumbled.

He tilted his head back ever so slightly to make sure it was her out of the corner of his eye, then turned around to face her. He began walking, pushing her back until they were far enough away that the animal no longer posed a threat to her. The animal snarled, but retreated back to the mech's side.

Sideswipe faltered for a second, making sure Sunstreaker was okay.

Laceburner wasn't qute sure what was going on with Sunstreaker, and whether he was alright or not. After he had finished freaking, he remained standing in front of her, staying there like a protective, brick wall to keep anything and everything from getting to her. He kept his head tilted to the left as to be able to see where everybody was.

"Sunstreaker, I'm okay." she promised, running her hand down his arm.

Then he did something she was **not** expecting; he purred. Like, literally purred. His engine hummed slightly, and his optics shuttered as he looked down at her suddenly with light blue eyes. She furrowed her brows; weren't his eye usually a darker blue?

A red hand was placed on his shoulder and Sunstreaker's head snapped over to see who it was.

"S'okay bro, just me. C'mon, Optimus, Hatchet, and 'Hide are almost here." he smiled.

Another animal, this one resembling a regular Tiger, approached her slowly. Sunstreaker put his arm around her back and grabbed hold of her hip, tensing when the animal got closer and closer. He looked much less hostile than his fellow friend did.

"It's okay." she whispered to Sunstreaker, opening her palm again and this one sniffed her palm.

This one simply grunted, but didn't make any other movements before turning and trotting back to his mech. Sunstreaker remained tense until the animal had returned to who she assumed was Blaster's side.

Optimus Prime, Ironhide, and Ratchet came driving up behind them, and Sunstreaker looked over to see who it was. His arm fell back to his own side, and she turned to look at the two mechs.

Optimus Prime got to work right away, of course, and Ironhide seemed to be watching their backs just in case, but Ratchet nodded at her.

 _ ***(* You three may return back to base. We'll take it from here. *)***_ Ratchet sent over the comm links.

 _ ***(* Thanks Hatchet. *)***_ Sideswipe sent back.

 _{:: C'mon, let's head. ::}_ Sunstreaker grunted.

With a nod, the three of them transformed down and left the scene.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

If there was one thing Ratchet loved, it was when multiple bots came back from a mission without anyone needing to be repaired. Of course, he knew that Blaster and all of his... followers would need a check up following their arrival, but he expected that. What was wonderful, was the Terror Twins managed to come back from a mission without magically managing to wind themselves in his Med Bay.

Blaster and his minions had all been healthy, but Prowl had been beyond angry when it came to not finding out why the sensors had only picked up two signals instead of three, the two minions Blaster had brought with him.

Tigatron and Stripes had been... unenthusiatic, to say the least, upon their arrival. Apparently, throughout their travels, they were the only two who had survived. Well, they were the only two left that Blaster had and could communicate with. They weren't really sure if the others had offlined or just been seperated, but the two Mini-Cassettes didn't seem hopeful on the survival of the others.

Ratchet, however, was more than happy with the lack of activity in his Med Bay today. It was nice and quiet yesterday after Blaster left, and nobody had yet to walk in to his Bay today either. He was so happy with it... until it was ruined by a pair of mechs.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker came walking in, interested only in bothering Ratchet - or, at least, that was the way it seemed.

"Ratchet!" Sideswipe called.

He sighed, looking at the samples in his testing tube. "What could you possibly want from me?" he asked.

"We need you to look into some files for us so we can get some answers about something." Sideswipe explained.

Ratchet raised an optic ridge, looking over at them confused. "What?"

"Look, we don't need your judgement." Sunstreaker growled. "We just want some answers."

Ratchet clenched a fist in an attempt to control his anger. "Answers on **what**?"

"Laceburner." Sunstreaker answered.

Ratchet let out a short, quick laugh. "Ha! No."

"Why not?" Sunstreaker asked.

"Her personal file is confidential."

"We just want to know if she's an only child, or if she's got siblings." Sideswipe clarified

Ratchet scoffed. "Why is it of any importance to you?" he asked.

"Humor us." Sunstreaker grunted.

Ratchet grunted. "If you wish to be humored, I suggest those comedy clubs humans have, or perhaps maybe look up a joke on the internet. Those jokes can do quite the job at tickling your ribs." he responded.

"Ratchet." Sideswipe said, and the CMO looked away as to avoid falling for Sideswipe's trick.

Ever since the two joined the Autobots, Ratchet always felt just a tad more responsible for the twins than anybody else did. They grew so close as to almost feel like father and sons. Almost. That wasn't to say they didn't feel like family - the Autobots may not always gets along, they may get on each other's nerves, and they may fight all the time (and that meant **all** the time) but none of that mattered. They may dislike each other, some seldom, some every other day, but whatever happened... they were all _family_. This many years into the war, if you couldn't find a family in your team, what could you find in life?

Sideswipe, however, had this... trick - if you could call it that - over Ratchet. After the three of them became close, the twins would head to Ratchet with any all problems they had. And whenever Ratchet said no to something (which he did frequently) Sideswipe, the little hellion, would pull his secret weapon out and use it to guilt Ratchet into whatever they needed or wanted.

Puppy-dog eyes.

His eyes would get larger and sadder, and his bottom lip would pout ever so slightly, while his facial expression morphed into one of sadness and damn-near spot on desperation. Ratchet knew it was a trick, but frag him if he didn't fall for it. Every. Single. Time.

But not this time; no, he would not be swayed this time. They didn't need any information on Laceburner, they wanted it. If they wanted him to answer their question, they could answer his first: why? And he wouldn't say a single word until then, that he was certain of.

Kind of.

" **Why**?" he repeated.

"Because." Sunstreaker said. "We want it."

"And I want to be in my twenties again, working my aft off during the day to pass through school with highest honours, and sitting in strip bars with my buddies, high grade Energon in one hand, my other hand on Moonracer's hip as she sits on my lap, laughing away happily over nights, but I don't see any of that here, do I?" he asked, looking up from his test tube. "It isn't relevant to either of you."

"Yes it is."

"Hatchet, **please**." Sideswipe begged. "We- We _need_ this answer."

Ratchet sighed; he usually had a fairly strong resolve but only three things could truly break his resolve: Optimus Prime, Moonracer... and these two imbeciles.

"No. She's an only child. About to be seventeen aon cycles, fairly soon if my calculations are correct. Grew up in Kaon. When she was six-ish her parents were killed by four workers from the Gladitorial Pit Chambers. After that she was never seen again and presumed to be dead." he told them.

"What about her spark? The 'only-child' theory line up with that too?" Sunstreaker asked.

"I wouldn't know." he said, administering something into the test tube and sighing when there was no reaction.

"How do you not know?" Sideswipe inquired.

Ratchet sighed. "Since she is a minor, normally I would be given direct permission by her parents. But since her parents are deceased and she had no next of kin, and has been living on her own since she was five or six, in order for me to look at her Spark, I need to have **her** consent. She has to give me both verbal and contractual permission to even so much as **look** at her Spark. This has to be done in front of three bots of her choice - one of which is on the PRA, which we have - in order to ensure that it was not a forced permission. We have told her this and she knows this, but she has not even come close to mentioning it to me. Therefore, unless her Spark was under Impulse Circutary Attack, or needed to be worked on in order to save her life immenently, I am not authorized to touch her Spark and have no right to even look at it. So, with everything in my power to gain knowledge on her, yes. She is an only child." he explained. "Now, why?"

"Don't worry about it." Sunstreaker waved off.

Ratchet threw his wrench, clocking the golden frontliner right on the side of his helm. "You are not leaving this room without answering my question."

Sunstreaker growled, rubbing the side of his helm. "One day I'm gonna superglue that Primus damned wrench to your servos."

"And I will weld you to the roof of the training bay by your audio finns for the recruits entertainment, don't test me boy." Ratchet warned, waving another one around in his direction. "Now, why?"

Sideswipe huffed. "Because we like her."

"Yes, we all figured that out when you befriended her the day after she showed up."

"No, not that way. Like, we **like** her." Sideswipe emphasized.

Ratchet furrowed his brow. "Wh...?"

"That's what we thought." Sideswipe answered.

"That's why we _asked_." Sunstreaker added on.

"No, that has to be a mistake-"

"That's what we thought too. But then we started seeing her hang out with Mirage and Hot Rod, and we couldn't handle it."

"Well she wouldn't be with Mirage and Hot Rod so much if you hadn't left her for Mythic." he reasoned.

"Doesn't matter **why** , what matters is the fact that we wanted to literally bash Mirage's helm in." Sideswipe cut in.

"'Specially after we found out they were rooming together, I was ready for a month in the brig if it meant getting to smash that spy's face in so hard in wouldn't ever revert to lookin' normal again." Sunstreaker said, rolling his shoudlers and listening for the pop. He clenched his fist again and ground his dentas together, a bad habit he'd picked up when he first arrived on Earth. Just another reason why he wished they could leave.

Ratchet pointed at him. "Don't do that. You'll grind them down and you aren't a sparkling anymore, they won't grow back." he chided

The two knew that Ratchet hated that sound, which in part was the only reason Sideswipe stopped punching Sunstreaker every time he did it - just 'cause it bothered the old, cranky CMO.

"Well, just... be careful, alright? If you two are as attracted to her as you claim, and whatever this is goes beyond simply finding her attractive, there could be a malfunction with your instincts, or worse your Spark. I'll make sure everything's fine durning your next checkup just... watch out. And I know you two are practially incapable of this, but just **try** to pay attention to what you want to do. Think things through before you do anything rash." he told them sternly.

"We will." Sideswipe promised.

"Then for the love of Primus, get out of my Med Bay." he pointed at the door with a brand new wrench in his servo, focusing back on the testing tube.

Sideswipe laughed from his nose and the twins left the room, the door sliding shut behind them. Ratchet turned back to his test tube, dropping something into the liquid. He gave a disappointed sigh when its only reaction was to fizz for a few seconds before dissengrating into the liquid.

The door slid open again, this time the bot who caused being Wheeljack. "Hey Ratch."

"Jackie." the CMO nodded in salutations.

"Hey, whatcha workin' on?" the inventor asked.

"A failure." the medic waved off. "What can I do for you?"

"Just came in to see if you have any of that... mesh that humans use on wounds? I need it for an experiment." he answered.

Ratchet looked at him with furrowed brows. "Gauze?"

"Yes! That's what it is! Do you have any of that?" Wheeljack asked.

Curious as to why, but not questioning the intentions of the base-resident 'crazy mech', he nodded apprehensively. "Yeah, just give me a second."

Wheeljack nodded as his old friend got up to go searching for what he needed, and turned to look at Ratchet's little "experiment", hands connected together behind his back.

"Ooh." the mech smiled, and reached over to pick up the second test tube. "You know what happens when you mix these two substances?"

Ratchet, for his part, was quick to process the information. He managed to hear, take in, and process what Jackie said within three seconds. Unfortunately or him, three seconds wasn't fast enough.

"Wheeljack, no!"

No matter what he had said or how he had acted, the damage was done once he heard the little dribble that came from one liquid being poured into the other. The Chief Medical Officer grabbed his comrade by the shoulder and yanked him into his own office, slamming the door shut and wincing as the small explosion rocked the walls lightly with a _boom_.

He waited for a few seconds before opening his door slightly to look out. The medical berth closest to the counter had been flipped and scattered into the one beside it, his tools had been scattered, and the floor was covered in both splinters of glass and a green goo. The two liquids had been mixed together, and both elements (when exposed to this much oxyegn), when mixed together, went from a liquid to a goo-like slime that coated the floor, the cupboards and shelves, and the counter.

Ratchet turned to look at Wheeljack angrily, releasing a sigh and letting his shoulders sag.

Wheeljack simply shrugged. "Oops. Sorry."

 ** _X-X-X-X-X-X-X_**

 **Okay, so! Why I've been gone for so long! Explanation time!**

 **So, right now (as some of my old time readers know) my parents divorced a year or two ago, and I chose to stay with my Father on our family farm, while the rest of my siblings (minus one) moved with my Mom. Well, we've hit a rough point. I won't bore you with too many details, but my Father is currently bed ridden in the hospital and will be that way for the foreseeable future, and it's up to my older brother and I to keep our home and farm together. Financially we are currently in a little bit of a struggle. To help us out, I'm working two jobs, I also babysit whoever I can, whenever I can, and on top of that I have my responsibilities to my farm that I have to do too. I'm trying to do everything I can for you guys, but I just never have time to write or edit. I ask you guys to just bear with me and ride this shit-hand I got dealt out with me. We'll get better (hopefully soon), but right now my schedule is basically planned out three weeks in advance with no room for changes. I promise I **will not **abandon either story and they will continue, but their updates are going to be a little sporadic and maybe once or twice a month.**

 **NOW I hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll see you later!**


	19. Chapter 19

**I'm back friends! Here's our next chapter of RW! I'm so sorry for such a long wait! School and writer's block combined together is a bad mix. But here ya go! Love you guys, and I hope you guys sincerely enjoy!**

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

The brig was always a dark area of the base, both figuratively and literally. When the base was being built, due to poor wiring and a piece of pathetic scrap budget they had at the time, the lights underground in the brig to illuminate the area were laughable when it came to brightness.

But today they seemed even dimmer than usual. He wasn't sure why, maybe he was just used to them so they didn't seem as bright anymore. From what he could see, three of them had burnt out since his last trip down here, and the remaining ones seemed to fall into a pattern. The one farthest from him would flick three times in the span of two minutes, the next one would flicker twice in thirty seconds. After that, the middle one would flicker continuously, non stop for a whole three minutes before steadying out. The fourth one would flicker in a pattern over the course of five minutes. On... off, on, off... on, off, and repeat for five whole minutes before stopping to work entirely (unlike the others, which steadied out and became a constant stream of light). Finally, the one closest to him would flicker as if it had the hiccups for a minute and forty five seconds before **finally** , for ten whole minutes, none of them would flicker. Then, the pattern would start all over again.

Their optics eventually adjusted to the lack of light, but it still sucked.

And Sideswipe, he woud **not** shut up. Not even to save his life. Or his arm from Sunstreaker's multiple punches.

"It isn't fair, we didn't even do it this time. Besides, it takes more than that to take down an uptight tin can like Magnus during a training. I bet it was Blaster's minions wanting to start trouble."

Sunstreaker sighed, plopping his arm on his knee. The two had been placed in seperate cells again, this time side by side so they pushed the berths up against the bars that seperated them from the other and sat back to back. Sunstreaker had one leg extended out, hanging off the side of the bed, while the other one was propped up, supporting one of his elbows. In his other hand, he held a black stress ball with the intials LB on it in white, squeezing it and spinning it between his fingers.

Okay, yes he stole it from Laceburner's desk, but only because it would give him or Sides the excuse to see her by returning it, thus starting a conversation with her. So, his intentions in the end made it okay. At least, that was how he convinced Sideswipe that it was okay to steal from her - it was only a temporary theft.

"Fine, it ain't our fault. Great, tell _Prowl_ that. He won't believe you to save his own Spark, he thinks it was us." Sunstreaker informed him.

Sideswipe huffed. "It's not fair."

"Yeah, you've mentioned that."

"It wasn't even us!" he said, exasperated.

"You've mentioned that once or twice too."

Sideswipe growled, reaching out and kicking the wall. "Man! This sucks."

"That must be your new life motto 'cause you've said that eight times since this morning." Sunstreaker grumbled.

Sideswipe huffed, pausing for a second, and Sunstreaker took the time to enjoy the short-lived silence.

"... I'm hungry."

Sunstreaker sighed. "What happened to the cube Prowl gave you yesterday?"

Sideswipe scoffed. "It's regular grade, Sunny. Regular."

Sunstreaker rolled his optics. "Whatever, then starve."

Sideswipe made a nonsensical whining sound, but finally - FINALLY - stopped talking. He sighed one last time, then looked down at his knee. He grimaced and reached to flick off a speck of dirt that was on his knee. "This place is gross."

Now, here's the thing with being in the brig for entended periods of time. Your optics get used to the lack of light. They'd been down here since last night, so their optics were more than adjusted to the complete lack of light. So when the door opened, and light filtered down the hall, to say it hurt their optics was a complete and total understatement.

It **burned** their eyes, causing them - forcing them - to squint. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say they'd been blinded. Sunstreaker lifted a servo to block the light as the two of them hissed. Soon after it was shut again. There was the sound of rustling before they hear the _click-clack-click-clack_ pattern of someone walking over, his or her peds clicking against the hard cement.

Once his optics readjusted, Sunstreaker tensed when he couldn't see the bot. Over the bond, Sideswipe tensed too and looked over.

"Show yourself." Sunstreaker growled uneasily.

One more click resounded as the person stepped forward.

Laceburner's visor was tinted a bright green, being the only thing they could see. Her black armour kept her disguised in the darkness from even their view, but Sunstreaker didn't miss the way it lacked a shine, and how it was missing paint in one or two areas.

Her visor's area of view never left where Sideswipe sat.

"Hey Lacey, you bring us some high grade?" he asked, partially excited.

She said nothing.

"What?" he asked.

With a final sigh, she stepped over and punched something into the key pad. It beeped with a flash of a green light that bounced off her black armour, then she reached into her subspace to pull out a key. She slid it into the locks that kept them in their cells, swining the doors wide open and easy access for them to leave.

"P-Prowl went out on a mission with Hot Rod and Jolt, and left me in charge of you two. I reviewed the files and then asked one of the humans, um... Bobby? Bobby Epps? I got him to access the video footage from the training room that Ultra Magnus was in when he got hurt, and saw that it wasn't you two. I brought the report to Optimus Prime and he gave me the okay to let you guys out." she said with a small smile.

Then she turned and walked down the hall. Sunstreaker was up and out of the cell quicker than any human would've thought possible, with Sideswipe not too far behind.

"Lacey, hold u - no!" Sideswipe called after the little femme who had, at this point, already exited the brig as he passed his older twin. "How does someone with such short legs have **that** much speed, what the frag?" he asked aloud as he trotted up the steps, skipping two at a time to try and make up the lost space between them and the little femme that seemingly disappeared.

Sideswipe tossed his servos in the air. "Where in the actual frag did she go? She can not be that fast." he said.

Just as Sunstreaker opened his mouth to say something, Jazz came walking around the corner, reading from the datapad in his servos.

"Jazz, have you seen Lacey?" Sideswipe asked.

"Yeah, lil la'y went back to work." he answered, then looked up. "Hey, aren't the two of ya supposed to be in the brig?"

"We were let out." Sunstreaker answered.

"Bah **who**? Prowler's gone on a mission, he left this mornin'." the TIC reminded, then his face darkened and his muscles tensed, his shoulders straightening. "You two better not be sneaking out again."

And just like that, Sunstreaker knew Jazz would be pissed if they had broken out. Whenever the mech dropped that Earth accent he'd adopted and pronounced every letter - when he lost his "cool" - that was when he got serious. When he changed from his chilled, laid back persona to his strict, Optimus-Prime's-Third-In-Command attitude, you better be on everybody's good side otherwise you'd be on the recieving end of his anger.

"Lacey let us out, which is why we're looking for her." he answered.

Jazz sighed at them, then his muscles relaxed again, and he looked back at his datapad. "She just got off 'er break, she's prolly back in 'er office." he responded. "I find out the two of ya lied to me, I'll get ya both down there for two weeks. Hear me?" he asked.

"Yes sir. Thaks Jazz." Sideswipe said as he trotted around the mech and began jogging down the hallway.

"See ya 'round, Sunny." Jazz said as he left the scene.

Sunstreaker merely grunted as he followed in the direction his twin went. He caught up to the red colored frontliner just as he knocked on the door.

"Come in." her voice commanded as it came from the other other side of the door, light and airy.

Sideswipe slid the door open and walked inside, taking in how empty it looked without Prowl there, leaving Sunstreaker to close the door behind himself.

"Uh... Lacey?" Sideswipe asked awkwardly.

"How can I help you?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the computer in front of her, fingers flying over the buttons with excessive speed.

Sunstreaker passed Sideswipe and plopped down on the closest spot to Laceburner on the couch that Jazz brought in to replace those Primus damned, **uncomfortable** chairs Prowl used to have in here, slinging his arm over the back of the couch. "You look... busy." he commented.

She shrugged. "It's either really busy over here, or it's dead quiet, there's no in between. You caught me on a busy one. How can I help you?" she repeated.

"Why d'you let us out?" Sideswipe asked, taking a single step closer.

She sighed, her eyes not moving from the screen as she continued typing away. "Is this how it's always going to be? Everytime I make a decision or action that even **remotely** involves you two, you'll question me about it?"

Sunstreaker furrowed his brows, and Sideswipe stepped back in shock, both feeling slightly offended - maybe offended wasn't the right word, maybe the right word was shocked.

"Whoa, Lacey." Sideswipe stuttered.

"Since when did you grow some balls?" Sunstreaker asked, leaning forward, his elbows balancing on his knees.

She huffed, turning in her chair as she finally stopped doing what she was doing and looked at him, her expression darker, slightly angrier. "Since when did the two of you start talking to someone who isn't Mythic?" she snapped in a barking tone.

They were silent for a few seconds, both twins reeling in her response, but her optics continued to glare holes into Sunstreaker's from behind her visor.

"Lace-"

"I needed you." she cut him off, obviously angry. "I was alone and scared with not a single recollection of literally **any** type of memory, and you two were the only ones I knew - the only two I was comfortable with. I needed you, you knew that, yet you decided that _Mythic_ was more important because at least you could get something from her that I can't give anyone. At least with her you could get **laid**." she growled. Sunstreaker wasn't sure if she realized that a tear fell down her cheek, and seeing that made the two of them feel like absolute garbage; how could they do this? "If all you want is to know why I let you out of the brig, then get out. I made a decision that is part of my job, and I don't need to explain anything about it to either of you." she finished, turning back around to continue working.

Neither of them moved. Like, at all. They didn't move a single centimetre for at least thirty seconds, sitting there more from shock than anything else, their eyes glued on Laceburner. The attention made her cheeks burn. With embarassement or anger, she wasn't sure.

"If you don't get out, I will comm Ironhide to come take you out." she grumbled.

That seemed to snap them out of it because ever so silently, Sunstreaker stood up off the couch. He pulled something out of his subspace. Slowly, gently, he placed her stress ball on the side of her desk, watching it for a second or two before taking his fingers off of it and walking out. Sideswipe stayed for about half a second after him before he to turned and walked out, leaving her alone, fuming, and with a butt load of work left to finish.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker hadn't said a single word to anybody since leaving Laceburner's office yesterday. Through their work detail, patrol, their downtime, and even training, the simple **fact** that they did that to her - that they put her through, and that she ran to Mirage and Hot Rod simply because they left her like that - basically tortured them, and didn't totally leave their minds ever. Even when they had to distract themselves with training instead of standing there, the subject, the fact, never wandered too far from their thoughts.

Of course, this led to training going... not so well today for them. It involved a lot of unnecessary hits, and a **lot** of kills against them.

It must have been obvious to Prime because he had them called to his office not to long after. The Terror Twins were usually the ones winning in training, for the two of them to lose so much, so often, and so quickly meant there was something seriously wrong.

"Why are we here?"

Sunstreaker ignored his brother, instead knocking on the door rather loudly.

"Enter."

Sunstreaker opened the door, holding it open for Sideswipe before the two of them sat down on the two chairs.

"Good afternoon mechs." Optimus greeted.

"Sir." Sideswipe said.

Sunstreaker simply nodded, opting to stay quiet.

"I am sure you two are already as to why I called you mechs down here." he said simply.

Sideswipe shrugged. "We have an idea, but we aren't totally positive."

The multi colored boss leaned forward, placing his elbows on the desk to support his weight. "What happened in training today?" he asked.

Again, Sideswipe shrugged. "Don't know. We were distracted."

"So I assumed. What is on your minds, what is going on?"

"Nothing's goin' on." Sideswipe waved off.

Optimus leaned back in his chair. "Nothing?"

"Nope." Sideswipe popped the 'p', shaking his head.

Then, the leader turned his attentions to the silent one.

"Sunstreaker? You seem awfully quiet."

The golden mech crossed his arms. "Got nothin' to contribute to the conversation."

"Nothing?"

Sunstreaker huffed, empty his air tanks momentarily as exhaust puffed out of his pipes. "Nothing."

Optimus smiled gently, standing up. "You know, the trouble with being Prime is you have... all these bots - femmes, mechs, even sparklings - looking up to you for guidance and safety. They are looking for a rock to lean on, and who better to be such thing than a Prime? Chosen my the Matrix of Leadership itself. Surely, this mech or femme must be ready to save them all." the mech said as he walked around the desk, stopping in front of it and leaning against the edge, then sighing. "What they do not know is it gets exhausting. I am not only responsible for the care and wellbeing of my mechs, but I am the one responsible for every single generation after that, that may or may not come to being. This means, I must be ready to help my mechs and femmes with every single problem in their lives, including you two. On top of this, I am having to now deal with this planet's form of governments around the world. But... I chose to accept this responsibility. You two are two of my finest soldiers, but you are also more than that to me. You are part of my responsibility - my family- whether you like it or not, and I can and will do anything and everything in my power to make sure the two of you can resolve whatever issue you have to deal with."

Sideswipe crossed his arms, leaning further into his chair. "It ain't anybody's concern but ours. We can handle it."

Optimus sat back down with a nod. "I understand that, and I'm aware that for your entire lives, all you had to depend on were each other, so I have no reservations about your hesitancy to ask for help, and your... inclination to attempt to fix things on your own. If you wish not to tell me then I can not force you to tell me. _But_ , I can offer as much help as possible. Please, both of you know that my door will always be open should you want to talk. I will do everything in my power to help. As Prime, my main concern is the safety, health, and wellbeing of my troops. Even you two."

Sideswipe nodded. "Yeah... thanks."

Optimus nodded. "I have given the two of you the next two weeks off of any and all work duty exempt for training every second day. As a way for the two of you to... think about it."

Sunstreaker rolled his optics, sitting further back in his chair.

"Is something wrong?" the Prime asked, catching the little action.

"No... Yeah. Yeah, you aren't doing this for us, you're doing it for you." Sunstreaker growled.

Sideswipe went wide opticed as his brother scooted forward to sit on the edge of his seat; very few bots got away with talking to **Optimus** _Prime_ like that.

"This isn't you wanting to know us. This is you bribing us with time off in an attempt to get us to tell you what's wrong. 'Cause your best frontliners had an slag-filled training and suddenly there's something wrong, so now you want to know what's happening in our lives. You want to analyze our behaviour and figure us out because now it benefits you. On a regular, normal, every day you wouldn't give two slags about us or how we're feeling. So why on this side of the universe would we tell you what's going in our lives now? You only care because now it has the potential to affect you and your precious little SIC in a negative way, not because you actually care about us. 'Cause the only person who's ever cared about us on a genuine level is us." the golden mech, having finished his rant, leaned back in his chair again, ignoring the look he was on the recieving end of from his twin. "I'll tell you about me, my life, and my thoughts and problems the day you ask me how I'm feeling when something _**isn't**_ wrong. When you take a genuine interest in me."

Sideswipe seemed to sit there and gap like a fish out of water, and Optimus sat there, his optics narrowed ever so slightly as he processed the frontliner's words.

Finally, the red and blue colored mech nodded. "I will repeat this once; if you ever need to talk, know that my door is open. You two are dismissed, enjoy your two weeks off."

With that, Sunstreaker stood up and stormed out of the room with Sideswipe on his tail.

"Sunny! Sunny, slow down! Sunny, what was that?"

He came to an abrupt stop, spinning around. "That was Prime caring on about us when it affects him. That was someone seeing the value in compassion once it made his life better, and probably easier. That was some slag we've had to put up with out entire lives, and I'm **not** putting up with it here. Frag that." he snarled.

Sideswipe, out of shock, stopped walking for a second before running forward to catch up.

"Sunny-"

"Don't call me that."

"-I get not wanting to tell anybody but you could've gotten us in serious slag for speaking to Prime like that. We just got out of the brig, you wanna go back down?"

"See? Right there! They don't care about us. The second we inconvience them, they throw us in the brig, saying its a punishment when really, it's 'cos we're a mess and they aren't willing to help unless they get something out of it."

Sideswipe reached out and grabbed his brother's arm, pulling him a rather violent stop. "You know that isn't true." he said, much calmer. "Think about it, Sunny. All the times we ran to Ratchet and he willingly helped because he wanted to. Yeah, this place and this planet suck, and yeah there are times when it seems like they throw us in the brig or do something just 'cause they wanna, but you **know** that they don't do stuff just to benefit them."

Sunstreaker huffed, pulling his arm free. "Whatever."

And then he walked down and the hall and disappeared around the corner.


	20. Chapter 20

**Welcome to chapter 20! We've come so far, and it makes me so happy how this story is developing! I hope everybody enjoys, don't forget to review!**

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Laceburner came plopping down the stairs, obviously half asleep still. She was lacking her stomach armor, and her optics were bare of the usual playful glint she had everytime she smiled, or even walked around on a day to day basis. Her steps were more small shuffles and her posture was that of a weak, defeated mech who just lost a fight. Her optics were cast down to the ground, creating a gloomy, blue effect against her chest armor.

"Mornin' Lace." someone called out.

The first hint after that that she wasn't feeling well was her lack of response. No, she had never been a **morning** person, per se, but she would at least grunt in acknowledgment of your presence.

"Lace?"

Again, she ignored it as she plopped down on the floor in front of the couch, and that was it. She didn't move a single nano-metre. Instead, she stared at the floor in front of her, silent. She hadn't even retrieved herself a cube of Energon, or stolen anybody else's.

The next hint that something was wrong and she wasn't feeling well, was the fact that not even two seconds later, her visor slid out over her optics and covered the beautiful blue orbs effectively, keeping them hidden from any and all onlookers.

The golden coloured mech slid off the couch to rest beside her and slipped his arm around her shoulders. "It's okay 'Burner. It'll be alright." he promised.

He shook her shoulder a little in an attempt to make sure she was still conscious. Her response was to flow with the shaking, then let her head land and rest on his shoulder.

Someone behind her sighed. "You sure she's gonna be alright?"

"How should any of us know? After what happened yesterday, for all we know, she should be dead right now."

The golden coloured mech looked back down at her face to see that a tear had run down her cheek and was just about to fall of the edge of her chin. He reached out and wiped it off, placing a kiss on her cheek.

"I promise it'll all be okay." he vowed.

She didn't move. She knew he was wrong; he knew he was wrong; Pit, everybody in the universe knew he was wrong. It was simply a lie, but it was a lie she clung on to the way she used to cling to her Dad's finger when she was younger, as if it was her lifeline, and best defense against any and all threats to her safety.

Primus, how wrong she had been about that.

It was a lie but it was a lie she needed, and a lie she cherished for the rest of her life.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

When Laceburner woke up, she was hunched over her desk again, the computer having reverted to screen saver. She reached under her visor to wipe her eyes of the crust that formed in the corner and sat up, feeling the odd strain on her back muscles just to do so.

Had she fallen asleep?

 _ **Yeah. You knocked out sometime around midnight last night, halfway through Red Alert's merchandise request.**_

 _That was a dream though, right?_

 _ **As far as I know.**_

She nodded, slumping in her chair. She loved her job, really she did. It not only allowed her to fill her day, but it was something she enjoyed doing, and it was easy and fun for her. Every so often, she got to go out into the field, she got to have complete control over the Dinobots, and she even helped Prowl and Optimus Prime, which could be considered an honour; that mech had a genius processor. It was absolutely great. But what the human government loved to do was go really quite for a long time, then all of the sudden they had eight million things to finish, that were all due _yesterday_. It was extremely exhausting for her, especially when she had to pull three all nighters in a row just to finish a quarter of the stuff due, then wind up falling asleep in her desk chair due to lack of recharge.

She was pretty sure Prowl brought all of his work with him to his room to finish in there just in case he did fall asleep, it was on a bed.

That was probably a good idea for her to start doing.

There was a knock on the door, and she straightened her back once more, ignoring the twinge of pain she felt.

 _ **Careful.**_

"Come in." she called.

Optimus Prime came walking in, looking regal and free even though she knew he was more than likely burdened and under a lot of stress right now.

 _ **Oh.**_

"Good morning Laceburner."

She smiled back at him as a greeting. "What can I do for you?"

"Prowl won't be reporting to work today, but I'm in need of some of his reports, do you know where those would be?" he asked.

She nodded. "He won't be at work?" she asked, stepping around the massive leader and over to Prowl's side of the room.

 _ **Hold up, why does he get an extra day off? We could use the rest!**_

 _Just hold on._

"No. We are working on a... sensitive issue amongst our troops right now, and he is needed." he explained.

"Sensitive issue?" she asked.

He nodded, but said nothing more as she filed through his one drawer.

 _ **Sensitive issue my sweet a-**_

 _Stop._

 _ **No, god damn it.**_

"Okay, not there." she mumbed as she closed his desk drawer and instead opened his filing cabinet. "What report in particular?"

"All of them from R to U." he answered.

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "That's a **lot** of reports, sir. You sure?"

He chuckled. "More than postive, Laceburner."

She shrugged. "Alright." she pulled out all the reports, attempting to balance them in her hands. "Here ya go."

What looked like two massive towers in her hands, looked like little books in his and she found herself amazed (not for the first time) at how genuinely massive he was in both height and muscle.

"Thank you Laceburner." he smiled.

She nodded. "Of course. Good luck with your... sensitive issue."

He nodded with a smile. "Thank you Laceburner."

 _ **Pfft. Sensitive issue.**_

Wth that, he turned and left her to her own devices as she sat back down on her chair, looking at the computer. The little words stared back at her, unmoving. She narrowed her optics back at them, next to positive that they were glaring at her.

She shook her head; she was going crazy. Maybe she should go get some rest?

The words seemed to move for a second, and she shook her head again.

 _ **Let's just go, we need the sleep.**_

She sighed, but nodded as she stood up, turning her computer off.

 _Okay, let's go._

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

"Sunstreaker and Sideswipe to the Med Bay, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe to the Med Bay, thank you."

Whenever you were called over the PA system, instead of the public comm links, it always meant trouble. Optimus, for his part, always tried to avoid involving the humans in everything, keeping them involved with only as much as they **needed** and were required to know. So, instead, they often used their public comm system to bring bots to and from, from the rec room, to the Med Bay, to the Boss's office, and even to the tar mac or brig. So when he deemed it necessary to have them hailed to the Med Bay by the human PA system, which ran throughout the entire island, it meant one of two things: you were in trouble, or there **was** trouble.

So when Sideswipe and Sunstreaker heard them being hailed over by the PA system, they immediately knew something was up.

"What?" Sideswipe asked aloud, the confused feelings drifitng across the bond.

Sunstreaker stood up from where he sat on the couch and headed towards the door with his twin on his tail.

The hallways were empty, which was unusual enough as it was; normally there was humans walking or running up and down the halls, chattering together or even fighting over something. Occasionally, a fist fight would break out over something, serving as a new source of entertainment for them every once in a rare while.

But now, there was a complete and total lack of anything even close to that in the halls. All that did really was make them even more nervous.

Either way, they continued on silently until they reached the doors to the Med Bay, which slid open as soon as they reached it. Sunstreaker was the first to enter, but Sideswipe was right beside him. It was only when the doors closed behind them that they realized how many bots were in there.

Jazz, Prowl, Ratchet, Ironhide, Optimus, Ultra Magnus, Hound, Wheeljack, First Aid, Red Alert, Elita One, even Chromia. They all stood there, looking at the pair as they entered.

Sideswipe stopped right away, his hands clenching into fists, with Sunstreaker following suit not even three seconds later.

"What is this?" the golden mech growled.

Jazz raised a hand, pressing a button on the remote he held. Behind the twins, the Med Bay door locked from the outside with a **click**. It wouldn't be opened until Jazz decided. He was quick to subspace the item soon after.

Sideswipe felt a growl rise in his chest.

"Easy, it's fine." Ratchet said out of habit.

He knew what was going through their heads; they were back in the Gladitorial Pits. They were locked (literally) in a room full of bots, and outnumbered in whatever battle was about to go down. They had two options: they could surrender right away, more than likely lose, and possible die, **or** they could fight with everything they had and either die with their dignity or win the fight. The CMO knew they'd always go with option two.

"Nothin's wrong, mechs. We just wanna talk." Jazz said.

Sunstreaker huffed angrily, his muscles stitching together as he tensed, blowing himself up to look bigger.

"'Bout what?" Sideswipe asked.

"About you two." Prowl answered.

Sunstreaker snorted softly. "I can promise you, we ain't that interesting."

Prowl threw a glance at Optimus, but didn't respond to the golden frontliner.

"No matter how intruiging you two are, that does not dismiss the fact that your trainings as of late have been-"

"Total slag." Ironhide cut his Prime off, staring straight at Sideswipe. "And that ain't okay around here."

Sideswipe narrowed his eyes angrily at the weapons specialist. "So what? We have one bad day and suddenly you're all up our afts about our lives?"

"Bad day? No. But you two have been getting increasingly worse over the course of the last week in terms of... everything in training." Prowl explained. "And nobody will be leaving until we figure out what the issue is."

Neither twin said a word. Neither twin moved. Neither twin made any sort of response to Prowl's words.

Elita One did.

"We just want to help." she said calmly. "We don't want you two to feel like you have to carry the weight of the world on your backs because you can't come to us and just talk."

"Great." Sunstreaker nodded in her direction. "And when we wanna talk to any of you rust buckets with optics, we will."

Ironhide rotated the barrel of his weapon in what could only be described as anger and frustration in one.

"You need to talk to somebot." Ultra Magnus pointed out.

"We do." Sideswipe answered. "We talk to each other _all_ the time. Literally."

"Somebot besides the two of ya." Jazz corrected.

"And when we want to," Sunstreaker repeated slower. "We will."

"Is this about Mythic, is something going on with the three of you? Did she ask to sparkbond?" Chromia asked.

Sideswipe snorted. "She ain't an idiot. Twins bond with twins. Everybody who knows anything knows we won't ever be able to sparkbond if our population remains at...this."

"Did something else happen with her-"

"She isn't important." Sunstreaker cut Elita One off. "She has almost no value to us. This isn't about her. We are perfectly fine. Let us go."

Optimus, for his part, managed to keep his demeanor the same despite the anger that burned through his veins when they spoke to his Sparkmate in such a way. "Not until whatever problem you two have been experiencing has been talked and worked through."

"We just want to help." Elita added.

Sideswipe opened his mouth to say something when there was a knock on the door.

Jazz walked away from his spot and around the twins. Whatever he had used to lock the door, he subspaced back into his servo and opened it just a touch.

Sideswipe strained his audios to listen to the near deaf conversation he engaged in.

"Yeah?"

"Sorry, um, is this is a bad time? It's just... Optimus asked for all the files from R to U, but I forgot these four were in Prowl's back cupboard." a light, airy voice drifted through.

"It's fine, Lacey, don't worry about it. He don't need 'em."

Sideswipe glanced over at Sunstreaker to catch his stare, both mechs knowing who it was. They both failed to notice the double take Ratchet did when he saw the look on their faces.

"A-Are you sure? He asked for all of them, and-"

"Lacey, I'm one hundred percent positive. Don't worry, Boss Bot's got everythin' he needs. Actually, aren't ya supposed to be on your lunch break, not workin'?" Jazz asked, and you could hear the smile on his face.

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Go take yer lunch break, Boss Bot's got everythin' he wanted. Thank you Lil Lady."

"Okay. Okay, okay, I'm going." she whispered quietly, more than likely with a smile on her face.

The conversation ended there.

The two twins looked at each other again.

 _(~ You wanna try and talk to her afterwards? ~)_ Sideswipe asked over the bond as Jazz walked around him and back to his spot.

 _(~ You think she'll even acknowledge us? ~)_ Sunstreaker grumbled.

 _(~ Worth a shot. ~)_ Sideswipe pointed out.

"It's about her, isn't it?" Ratchet asked suddenly, pulling them out of their heads.

"What?" Sideswipe asked.

"This whole thing? It's about some problem you're having with Laceburner, isn't it?" he repeated.

Sunstreaker let his engine growl ferociously. "Doesn't matter, we don't need to talk."

"Why would it be about her?" Jazz asked, looking at the CMO.

He didn't answer back, simply stared at the two in front of him. "Optimus, may I have a minute alone with them?" he asked.

Optimus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, but nodded. "Yes, we can-"

"That won't be necessary. You two, join me in my office." Ratchet ordered as he grabbed them by one shoulder each and pushed them into his office, making sure the door was locked shut behind him.

He leaned against the steel reinforced door and looked at the twins who stood in front of him.

"I know this is about her. I knew it was before Optimus called us in here, and I knew it before she showed up here too."

Sunstreaker clenched a fist harder. "You don't know what you're talking abou-"

"Oh don't treat me like a dim-sparked imbecile, Sunstreaker. Your _servo_ says differently."

He was right; his hand was still scabby and torn up, and bleeding a lot, with blisters that had to be popped but he hadn't managed to yet. It wasn't his fault, he didn't even realize he was doing it when he was doing it. It was just that he had a lot on his mind, between what they were feeling for Laceburner, the problems they were having with some of the mechs on base (which they would not, under any circumstances, talk to someone about - they could handle it), Mythic. For the first time in a while, he just wanted a twenty four hour break from his life.

Ratchet, however, kept speaking. "Besides, I see the way you two look at her whenever she's not looking back."

"The way we look at her?" Sideswipe asked.

Ratchet craned his head to the side a little as his gaze shifted over to the red mech.

"Like she's the sun and you two have been starved of UV rays for years. Like she's the only thing that matters in that moment. The only thing keeping you on this planet is her. You two stare at her like she's everything you've ever dreamed of. Like you dream of her walking through the door to your house with your sparklings on her ankles as she comes back from work and picking them up. You two stare at her like you **need** her; this goes beyond what Jazz and Ultra Magnus think, you two don't look at her because you lust after her. Though no doubt you, in fact, do, you two look at her because you want to love her, and because you want her to love the both of you back. She's the only femme in your life who's never favoured one over the other. She doesn't choose which one she likes better, and she treats you like actual _bots_ : not frag toys, or optic candy, or even play things. She treats you the same way you used to dream of being treated by a femme."

Both mechs stayed silent and Sunstreaker even averted his optics to the wall on his right.

"So what?" Sideswipe asked. "It's just a pathetic, seven aon-cycle old crush. Like what little mechlings form on the femmelings in their elementary classes."

"No." Ratchet shook his head. "No, this isn't even close. That's what you two have with Mythic. That's what you two had with Everbelle. _This_ , what you two feel whenever you look at Laceburner, that's not a school-yard **crush** , Sideswipe."

Sunstreaker kep his mouth shut, as did his twin. Ratchet sighed.

"So what? What happened, what went down with her that is _so_ distracting that it's making you two failing multiple trainings in a row?"

Sideswipe huffed, crossing his arms, but Sunstreaker was the one who responded to his question.

"We found out we hurt her more than we thought."

Ratchet's eyebrows stitched together. "You hurt her?"

"Yeah. When Mythic showed up, we didn't think it hurt her that much when we stopped hanging around her. She seemed to move on pretty quickly." Sideswipe kept going.

Ratchet snorted. "It's cute that the two of you think that."

Sideswipe sighed, looking away.

"We didn't mean to." Sunstreaker growled. "We just..."

"You wanted interface." Ratchet shrugged. "While the mechs here make a big deal out of it, it really isn't. Had it been any of the majority of them, they woud have done the same."

Sunstreaker unclenched his jaw and fists finally.

"Did she really have nightmares?" Sideswipe asked quietly.

"Did? No. She still does. They calmed for a while, happening once a week, if she was lucky, although they've picked up as of recently again. They happen as recently as everytime she closes her eyes. Maybe every second time on the rare occasion." Ratchet answered. "Why?"

"Is it our fault?" Sideswipe continued.

"What?" Ratchet scoffed. "No. She's been having nightmares since she showed up."

Sunstreaker looked at him with bewildered optics. "That's over a year."

"Good math, boy." Ratchet nodded. "I'm proud of you."

"Wait, so we didn't cause them?" Sideswipe asked.

"No, why would you think such a thing?"

The twins shared a look again, before the golden one looked over at the wall, and the red one averted his optics to the ground.

"Hey!" Ratchet exclaimed.

Sunstreaker huffed with an optic roll. "She cried, alright? We tried talking to her, and we weren't expecting her to be so... bold."

Ratchet nodded. "She's gained mountains of confidence since her arrival."

"Yeah, well that's when the conversation turned and she wound up crying in front of us. We didn't realized we'd hurt her as badly as we did. We figured she'd just... get it like everybody else did."

Ratchet let out a short-lived laughed. "In case you have yet to notice, she isn't like every other bot here."

"Yeah, we got that part." Sunstreaker grumbled.

"We just... didn't expect for it to get that far. And now everytime we see her around that **blasted** spy, we just wanna..."

"Dent his face in." Sunstreaker growled. "Permanently."

Sideswipe nodded, letting off his own growl. "And then we get slagged off because we don't know why we feel like this. I mean she ain't a twin so we won't ever be able to spark bond with her. She should just be another femme, a little kid."

Ratchet nodded. "So you're telling me that if you can somehow repair your relationship with Laceburner, everything would go back to normal?"

Sunstreaker clenched his fist again. "No."

"We don't normal. Ok, w-we wanna fall asleep next to her. We want to see how proud she is with herself when she hits three bullseye on three different targets at the same time for the first time, or takes her opponent down by herself with no help. We wanna be there for her in ways we weren't before." Sideswipe explained. "But she isn't a **twin** , so we know we'll never be able to sparkbond and that infuriates us. Then it's frustrating because we know we literally can't."

Ratchet sighed. "Yeah, well, baby steps you two. You want that to happen, great. That can be your **ultimate** goal. For now, focus on redeeming yourself for leaving her the way you did. You can cross the... sparkbonding bridge if you get there."

"Yeah, and how do you expect us to do that?" Sunstreaker asked.

Ratchet huffed as he walked around them, sitting on the edge of his desk instead. "You can start tomorrow night. Mirage got switched to midnight patrols again, so he's gone when she first falls asleep, and he's only finished by the time she's awake and already working. She figured it was useless so she's back to bunking in her room. She'll have another nightmare tomorrow, gauranteed." The CMO stood up, and poked his two main pointer digits into both Sideswipe's and Sunstreaker's chest. "You be there when she starts screaming. You calm her down and help her go back to sleep. You wake up first and get a cube of Energon. Tomorrow's Saturday so it's her first day off for the weekend, you let her sleep in as long as she wants, and when she wakes up you don't talk to her. Let her really wake up first. She's not super eager in the morning so let her get settled. Watch some TV and sit on the couch, eventually she'll join you. It's a start. She won't forgive you right away, she won't be swept off her peds, and this is gonna take you two a lot of time, effort, and work before she forgives you. But if you really want it _that_ badly, you will wait. Understood?"

Both mechs nodded obidiently.

"Good."

Ratchet walked past the two of them and out the door, pointing at Jazz. "Open the door."

The TIC looked over at Optimus warily, who was busy eying his CMO.

"Everything is settled?" the Prime asked.

"For now. They're free to go, and I have work to do, so if you please." he made a hand motion for everybot to leave, so Jazz did as he was instructed and unlocked the door.

Everybody piled out, but the twins were the last to leave. They made sure everybody was gone.

"Thanks Ratchet." Sideswipe grumbled.

The CMO simply hummed and made a hand motion for them to get out, and then they were gone too.


	21. Chapter 21

**Hello friends! Welcome to chapter 21! And I hope you're enjoying your march break if you're on break, or you week if you aren't! Haha! I hope you enjoy this chapter, and have a wonderful day! Love you guys!**

 ** _X-X-X-X-X-X-X_**

She was running. She didn't know from who, or why, or where, all she knew was she had been told to run, and she had to run - she _had_ to. She wasn't quite sure where her final destination was, but she knew she couldn't go back.

How far had she gotten?

No, that wasn't important. Keep running.

She turned down a road and that led further into town. At least there were more places to hide this way, but still she had to keep running, she couldn't stop. She didn't know why, she just knew that the little voice in the back of her head, the tiny little whine, was telling her to keep running, don't stop, keep going.

"Whoa!"

"Hey!"

"Watch it, sparklet!"

She ran around a group of bots on the sidewalk, looking over her shoulder hurridely, not really knowing what exactly she was looking for, but the only thing she could see was the back of bots she'd already run passed. In her hurry, she failed to notice the bump on the side that caught her ped, and she fell to the sidwalk with an _'oof'_. She managed to get up and keep running before it even registered with her that tears had begun to fall down her face with vigour.

But now her legs were starting to get tired and she needed to stop without being seen. She could barely stand without her legs shaking, walking - **running** \- wouldn't be much of an option anymore.

There. That hole in between buildings - she was pretty sure she'd heard it been called something before; an a-all-alleyway? Yeah, she could hide in there.

A little voice in the back asked if it would be safe though? She could get caught in there if there was no way out.

No, the safest option would be to keep running.

Then, she heard it.

"Where is she?"

That voice! That was a bad voice. She'd never heard it before, she didn't even know who it belonged too, or what it was doing, what it wanted, but it was bad. It was bad and she had to avoid it. That much, she knew.

"I don't know."

"Can't see her.

"Not sure."

The bad voice growled. "Scan the area. Have you seen the size of her? She's young, she couldn't have run that far."

She didn't seem to have much of a choice, so quickly she darted into the alleyway, looking for some place, **any place** , to hide.

There! A hole in the wall, just barely big enough to fit her in it. She wouldn't have even seen it if she wasn't so small and close to the ground. She slid to the ground, shuffling underneath it to hide. She tried to slow down her breathing from the constant panting she was going through.

She heard whirs approaching, and then something slid out in front of her eyes, covering the blue shine of her optics from reaching the alley's walls, making her jump out of fear.

Her visor. It had covered her optics in order to conceal the glow and not give away her position to anybody. Good thing too, because a couple seconds later the sounds of footsteps echoed off the walls, the whirring sounds of the bot's knees bending and straightening practically echoing in her audios.

Then, from her tiny little hole in the wall, she saw a ped land in front of her as the bot walked down the alley. The other foot kicked the garbage thing opposite of her away from the wall, as if to check if she was hiding under there.

She held her breath and prayed that whoever it was didn't see her hole in the wall, and didn't look for her under here anyways. When what he was looking for proved not to be there like he thought it would, he pushed the garbage dumpster back to the wall. He walked further along the alley, and Laceburner failed to notice the tear that rolled down her cheek.

The mech, after walking to the end of the alley, turned back around and walked out.

"I got nothing!"

"Not over here."

"Nothing this way!"

"She isn't my way!"

The voice, that bad voice, growl and she heard it punch something like the wall.

"Impossible," it snarled. "You seen the size of her? She can't have gone too far."

"Jet, maybe she didn't turn this way, she may have turned left at the intersection."

There was silence, a growl, then somebot got punched.

"Agh!"

"Let's go get her." the voice snarled lowly to whoever it was talking to. "We go back without her, Boss'll have our helms."

"Ow!"

Right after that, she heard them transforming and their engines roared together as they drove off.

 _What do I do?_

The voice wasn't there; it didn't respond to her, and she freaked out for a second.

She took a shaky breath in, and didn't even realize when a sobbed crawled it's way up her throat and out her lips.

Then, she got up, out of the hole and ran in the opposite direction from where they came. She ran as fast as she could, for as long as she could, until her legs shook to keep her standing, her air tanks seizing and failing to take in air, no matter how hard she breathed. She had to place her arms up against the wall to keep her from falling over as she coughed and choked on air, grabbing her throat with her other hand.

Then, somebody grabbed her by her shoulders. "Come on."

She screamed, kicking and screaming.

 _ **Relax!**_

"Lacey! Lacey, Lacey, it's okay, it's just me, it's alright! Come on!"

She screamed one more time, kicking up into the air.

 _ **Look!**_

"Oof. Right in the crotch plate." a pained groaned sounded as her foot came in contact with something, and whoever it was let go, but their hold was soon replaced with another one.

"Laceburner, relax. Nothing's wrong." the deep voice calmed. "You're okay."

 _ **Open! Your! Eyes!**_

She opened her eyes to see Sunstreaker hovering above her. She panted shakily through her mouth, her chest heaving. His eyes searched for something (probably for her optics) through her visor, even though they failed to find what they were looking for.

"You're okay." he said calmly, " **Breathe**. Its alright, Lacey."

"We're right here, no one's gonna get you." Sideswipe said as he crawled back up, off the floor and into the bed beside her, still holding his crotch plating.

Her eyes bore into Sunstreaker's as her panting calmed slightly, but then the sobs wracked her frame, the tears streaming down her cheeks rapidly.

"Shh, easy Lacey." Sideswipe cooed, pulling her into his arms.

In return, she wrapped her arms around his just under his chest, and her legs wrapped themselves around his waist as she laid her head on his chest with a sob, her shoulders shaking as she cried.

"N-N-No, ple-ease-e." she sobbed, her her grip tightening. "I don't want-t to-o, please-e don't make me-e."

Sideswipe wouldn't ever admit to anybody besides Sunstreaker, who would've found out any way, but it broke his spark to hear her like this. And it broke his spark to think she'd had to endure his for over a year now with no one there.

She sobbed again, and he closed his eyes, leaning down to plant a kiss on the top of her head.

"You're not going anywhere or doing anything, Lacey, I promise on my life." he swore.

She sobbed again, the sobs sounding more and more tired as they progressed.

"We **promise**."

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

When Laceburner woke up from her sleep, it was in her room, in her bed, tucked under the blankets. This was usually what happened... it was normal. Except for the fact that the lights were on. Not the big light, the big light was still off, but both lamps in either side of the couch had been flicked on, and she knew she always shut them off, and Mirage always kept them off too whenever he came in and she was still sleeping.

The two heads that hovered over the couch swam in her vision for a few seconds before she rubbed under her visor and her view cleared up to reveal the twins. Sideswipe's attention seemed to be fully trained on the TV, but Sunstreaker was looking down at something in his hands. Her visor recalibrated and her HUD popped up tiredly. The voice, whom she thought was still asleep (she always slept in longer than Laceburner did) growled in the back of her head, but that was all that came from her. Neither bot seemed to hear her as she stood up and stretched, her shoulders popping, but the two of them were too focused on whatever they were doing.

Silently, she left the side of the bed and walked over to stand behind him. He had a data pad in his hand, covered in a drawing of some sort. But it was a really good drawing, it wasn't some crap that's already outlined and you just colour in, Sunstreaker had done it from scratch. It was beautiful.

She took a deep, long breath in silently. "That's nice."

He craned his neck only slightly over his shoulder as if to make sure it was her and not somebody else.

"Thanks," he grumbled. "That's your's." he pointed to the dark blue, almost light purple, cube of Energon on her coffee table.

She walked around the arm of the couch, over his legs and leaned down to pick up the cube. She looked at it in her and for a long second, as if examining it.

"It ain't poisoned or anything." he reassured.

"Probably the only time I've ever purposely grabbed a cube of regular grade though." Sideswipe joked with a shrug.

The older one reached out and punched his twin in the arm quickly before going back to his art in his hands.

"Ow." Sideswipe grumbled.

The golden mech simply grunted back at him as Laceburner plopped down on the couch tiredly and unceremoniously, placing her feet up on her coffe table not even two seconds later as she leaned forward to grab the TV remote and switched the channel.

Sideswipe whined, "Lacey! I was watching that."

She took a sip of the Energon, taking not of the peculiar slight burning sensation it caused as she swallowed it. " **My** TV, **my** choice, **my** rules."

Between Sunstreaker's morning bitchiness and Laceburner's morning grumpiness it was transparent that Sideswipe was outnumbered, and it was obvious that neither bot would ever be classified as _'morning people'_. However, because of the similarity of the two of them, neither of them managed to get on each other's nerves during the whole time it took for the small, black femme to finish her cube of Energon - they didn't speak to each other or bother each other, and the two made a point to not be close enough to be touching each other as well. They knew to leave each other alone and to let them really **wake** up.

Sideswipe clicked everything together, every piece of information he gathered and get together from watching them, and decided to pass over the opportunity to ask her about the nightmares, insead watching the TV with a complete and total **lack** of interest this time. He would much, _much_ rather be asking her a frag load of questions about... everything, but somehow contained himself.

Like, for Primus' sake, she **just** woke up. The last thing he wanted was for her to get angry at him just because she was still kind of in recharge and grumpy, and he was asking too many questions to her.

She took the last sip of Energon from her cube, looking down at Sunstreaker's work.

"What?" he asked in a raspy voice.

"You're really good ." was all she said.

He grunted as a thank you, and she stood up. Laceburner didn't say a single word as she passed the golden twin and tossed her empty cube out in the garbage, before she disappeared into the bathroom. They didn't hear the shower turn on, the sink run, or the waste tank flush, but when she came back out fifteen or twenty minutes later, she was drying her hands on a towel. She tossed the dirty towel into a basket of others that she had by the bathroom door, walking back towards the couch silently. She went to go walk around the coffee table, as opposed to walking over Sunstreaker, but stumbled on the carpet just a little. She suddenly jumped, her visor glitched orange, then she froze.

"Lacey?" Sideswipe called.

She didn't respond to the call, and Sideswipe stood up, walking to stand in front of her, waving a hand.

"Lacey?" he asked as he walked over and stopped in front of her. "Hello?"

Her visor glitched orange again, then suddenly she jumped before looking up at his face.

"What?" she asked.

He chuckled. "You just stopped. What's goin' on?" he asked.

She continued staring at him, her helm tilting as she looked at him, her visor lighting up slightly.

"Um..." she trailed off. "I don't..."

Then she stopped talking. He furrowed his brow confusedly as he looked at her; what was wrong with her?

"Are you okay, Laceburner?" Sunstreaker asked, putting the data pad down and walking over to her too, capturing her in between the two of them.

Again, she didn't respond, even once he got fairly close to her. After thirty seconds, she turned to look at Sunny, then nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" she asked, then stared off into space.

Talk about a delayed reaction.

 _(~ You think she's okay? ~)_ Sideswipe asked over the bond.

 _(~ What do you think? ~)_ the twin retaliated. _(~ I'm taking her to Ratchet. ~)_

Suddenly, she stumbled forward and almost fell reaching out to grab whatever she could to steady herself, and Sideswipe's hands whipped out to grab her before she could fall.

"Whoa, you okay Lacey?" he asked, helping her to stand up.

She leaned all of her weight against his side. Sunstreaker noticed the way her visor glitched from black to white, as if she was blinking lazily as she looked around. She sighed, a small smile leaking onto her face.

"Sides..." Sunstreaker suddenly said apprehensively. "You sure you gave her regular grade?"

The red frontliner adjusted how she stood against him, taking note of how she locked her arms around his torso and laid her head against his chest, and furrowed his brow towards his twin with a nod.

"Yeah. Yeah, I know it was. 'Cause I grabbed four cubes, three high grade and then Lacey's. I've even still got the other high grade in my subspace..." he opened his subspace to feel around, then trailed off when a bright blue, regular grade cube sat on his palm. "Um... nevermind."

Sunstreaker's optics went wide. "Primus damn it, _Sides_! How concentrated was that High Grade?" he snapped, looking down at the little black femme between them.

He noticed the way she smiled lightly - oh yeah, she was overcharged.

Sideswipe winced as Laceburner shuffled her feet around. He mumbled something that Sunny didn't quite catch.

"What?" he asked his twin to repeat again, angrily.

"Eighty three!" Sideswipe yelled at him.

Sunstreaker's eyes went wider. "You idiot!"

"I'm sorry!" he yelled back.

Their yelling match was broken up by the little black femme giggling as she stumbled on her feet, away from Sideswipe's side and let herself collapse onto her butt on the couch, laughing again.

Sunstreaker took a step closer to Sideswipe to punch his shoulder, huffing at him with his jaw clenched and teeth grinding in Sideswipe's direction. The red mech shrugged, his optics going wide - he obviously didn't know what to do.

"I'm **sorry**. I wasn't paying that much attention." he defended.

Sunny huffed again, crouching down in front of the little femme.

"Laceburner. La-Laceburner, look. Focus on me." he said, grabbing her attention.

She looked over at him with wide optics, blushing and smiling at him.

"Hey, listen. You're... you're overcharged."

She had begun laughing again, leaning forward to get closer to him. She placed her elbows on her knees, her head in her hands as she giggled again, only a few inches away from his face now. However, after he said _'overcharged'_ , her face fell into a straight face. She tilted her head curiously before doing something that Sunstreaker would never have guessed her to do.

She slid her visor across her eyes and hid it in it's case, revealing her optics to him.

Sunstreaker had seen beautiful before. After he and Sides had gotten out and they had gone from poor lowlifes to lavished, rich mechs and the amount of credits they had was... uncountable, they had gorgeous, beautiful femmes (and mechs) who tried to throw themselves at the two every day and every night. He'd seen the two moons when they were in full "bloom", as bright as possible in the night sky. Sadly, Cybertron didn't really have a sunset or sunrise, but every once in a while you'd see colours dancing along the sky and he was lucky enough to see it happen once. He had known beautiful. He had seen _beautiful_ before.

But the word beautiful **paled** in comparison to Laceburner's optics. In that exact moment, he wished she'd stare at him forever. Well, maybe not forever, but long enough that he could try his hand at drawing them. His version would be a pathetic replica of something that's beauty could never truly be captured, but he could **try**. The brightness of them alone was enough to catch any passing bot's attention, even brighter than Bumblebees' optics. The colour of it astounded him; around the very center of it, where a human's, uh... _pupil!_ That was it! It was almost like Laceburner had a dark blue pupil right in the center of her eye, and within the span of a centimeter of it the colors ombréed from dark blue to light, almost sky, blue, so light that they were almost silver. If you were only able to catch a quick glance that would be the colour you would percieve it as. And the **details**. She had little details and tiny, interconnected patterns all over her optics - as if someone had taken time out of their days and sketched patterns into her optics while she was in the spark and gestation chamber. Some of them obviously had meaning behind them, but others were just there to be there, essentially. But they were too... perfect to be place their by someone. No, they were too perfect to not be natural.

In the background, he heard Sideswipe gasp. "Whoa."

"Laceburner," he started quietly, clenching a fist together to keep his focus, "You're overcharged."

She blinked at him slowly, then smiled again.

He narrowed his eyes apprehensively. "Lacey..."

Before he said anything else, or before he could, she raised a hand slowly and moved it towards his face. She touched his cheek very lightly with the tip of her fingers, tracing little circles on the polished plating. The atmosphere had quickly changed, and it was now nothing but quiet, the silence practically ringing in their audios.

She huffed out air from her nose in seeming amusement as she smiled again.

"You're a lot more beautiful without the visor." she said quietly, almost whispering.

Her optics looked back and forth between his two own, and her other hand moved to trace between his audio finn, ever so _slightly_. His finn twitched at the contact and she huffed out in amusement one more time.

"They move?" she mumbed, her optics whirring in circles.

He nodded. "Only slightly." He hadn't realized until then that his clenched fist had unclenched and was now spread out over her thigh, gripping her leg. "They're too heavy, and easily damaged to move more than just in a twitch."

When her optics moved from his audio finns to his optics her smile dropped, her face going serious again.

"Laceburner..." he said warningly.

She took a sharp breath in when he spoke, a smile gracing her face. She leaned in closer to him, tracing his audio finn again. He caught the way she looked down at his lips ever so briefly.

And then, just as she was quite literally only a few centimetres away from their lips touching one another, to the point where he could feel her breath over his lips, and her lips just ever so **slightly** brush against his, his hand that he had on her thigh tightened. "Lacey..." he wanted to groan and punch himself in the face for what he said next. "Lace, you gotta stop."

She made a whining sound in the back of her throat as her visor slid back over her optics, effectively hiding them, and it took everything - everything - he had to restrain himself from throwing her down and fragging her through the couch until she screamed his-

 _(~ What are you doing?! ~)_ Sideswipe yelled over the bond. _(~ She likes us and she's attracted to us, what the Pit, Sunny? ~)_

 _(~ She's overcharged, she won't remember any of this when she wakes back up. ~)_ he snapped back at him.

As if on cue, her optics shuttered, shutting off for a second and her visor went pitch black before reactivating. He looked back at Sideswipe as if to prove a point.

He shifted his gaze back to the femme he was crouching in front of. Her optics shuttered a she took him in once again. She sighed, then opened her mouth to speak. She shut it briefly, opened it, closed it, then spoke.

"I missed you two." she whined.

Sideswipe, who had stayed silent up until this point besides to yell at Sunstreaker, sighed and Sunstreaker scooted to the side as his younger twin crouched down as well. He placed a hand on her thigh, but almost right after raised it all the way up to her cheek. The two of them both noticed the way she leaned her hand into his hand, and her visor let static flutter across as it glitched.

"We missed you too, Princess." he said softly.

She whine again her visor going blue for a split second.

"Why'd you leave?"

Sunstreaker sighed, and Sideswipe's face softened as a tear dribbled down her cheek.

"What did I do?" she sobbed, and dropped her head, sucking her breaths in through her mouth as she cried. "I'm **sorry**."

"Laceburner, you didn't do anything." Sunstreaker said.

"I'm sorry, I won't do it again." she cried quietly.

"Lacey, we're just... we're just idiots, Princess." Sideswipe promised, raising both of his hands to craddle her cheeks and wiped the tears off of her cheeks. "It isn't you, you're... _perfect_."

Then, she did something totally unexpected.

She dropped off the couch and onto her knees to be level with the two mechs, and wrapped her arms around Sideswipe's torso, leaned her head against his chest and tightened her grip on him.

He sighed as she slowly stopped crying, and he hugged her back tightly.

They stayed like that for about three whole minutes, before she pulled back and did the same thing to the yellow twin, which was even more unexpected than the first time she did it.

"I miss you." she mumbled into Sunstreaker's chest.

Sideswipe didn't fail to notice the way she said _'miss'_ instead of 'miss _ed_ '.

Those three words were the last that she said before her grip loosened, and she fell into recharge against him.


	22. Chapter 22

**Hello! Its been a while friends! I'm so sorry, I've been putting this off for a while, but for the life of me I can't explain why, I just didn't feel ready to post it, or like I couldn't for some unknown reason. But, I'm hoping this will put me back on track for this story. I've hit a bit of a road block with my other story, Long Distances, and probably won't be able to write chapters for it because I've been unable to find an angle to continue it from. However, for this story I'm hoping to be able to keep going for now. I'm currently busy a lot, as well, so I'm doing what I can, while I can for you guys :D**

 **I hope everybody enjoys this chapter!**

 **Don't forget to leave a review, the feedback helps me a lot with knowing what you guys do and don't enjoy.**

 ** _X-X-X-X-X-X-X_**

Laceburner was always a nice person, **probably** because she was too shy or scared to not be. If you passed her in the hall and acknowledged her, she'd smile and say hi. If you passed her in the hall and didn't happen to acknowledge her presence, she'd still smile in your direction and nod anyways. If she happened to walk in and saw you struggling with something, she'd offer her services to help with whatever she could. If she noticed that you were struggling with something or other she'd do everything she could to help find a solution for you. If you were stressed, and needed someone or something to vent or rant to and happened to stumble upon her, she'd always have her audios open for you. She hated when people were sad; she hated seeing people in trouble; she was genuinely a _nice_ person. She tried to be polite all the time, no matter what her situation was.

So, of course, it came as a big surprise to... well, to everyone when they finally stumbled upon the day when she was in a really bad mood. Nobody had actually ever seen an upset Lacebuner. A select few had seen a grumpy Laceburner right after she woke up from either sleeping or a nap, but there was a very clear difference between grumpy, tired Laceburner, and upset, angry Laceburner. A _**very**_ clear difference.

She woke up by herself in her room in just a genuinely ugly mood. She hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. No, those hours had been filled with sleeping for thirty or forty minutes, then waking up and staying up for about two hours, over and over again. When she woke up she didn't have any energon on hand - not any regular grade anyways - and when she finally went to take a shower... no solvent came out of the shower head, which meant she would have to wait until the end of the week. That also left her feeling disgusting and grimy, and after everything added up and clashed together it resulted in the most sour mood she'd ever been in that nobody - nobody - expected from Laceburner.

Even Prowl got worried about her while she was working in the office. She hadn't said a single word, or even tapped her fingers like usual, but whenever anything went wrong, even if it was something small and minute that didn't really matter, she'd growl and her engine would set itself at a snarl for a few seconds. It would happen every three minutes and twenty four seconds on the dot, like clockwork.

The change in her immediate mood was even obvious to Grimlock, and even **Slug** quickly realised that he had to be on his best behaviour during their baths today. Swoop, however, seemed to be oblivious to her complete lack of patience. The dinobots were due for a bath once a week, due to their size and the fact that it took her all day just to get them all done, and unluckily for Laceburner, today was that day. And both her complete and total lack of patience, and Swoop's inability to see when he was crossing a line did **not** bode well together.

Swoop reached out with his tail and slashed at Slug. The triceratops made it blantly obvious that he wanted nothing more than to turn around and swing back at him, but out of respect for Laceburner he managed to restrain himself. Keen on getting on a reaction from his _'brother'_ , he went to hit him with his tail again, except two seconds later an empty water bucket slammed into the side of his head. He cawed and screamed in pain (and probably anger) as it threw him off balance, and he fell from hovering above them to falling to the ground ungracefully. He struggled to keep his wings flapping. When he finally managed to recenter himself, he slammed a fist into the ground in fury, snarling and chomping his jaws together. With another snarl, he turned. With the intention of returning the favour to whoever just tried to harm him, his head whipped around again only for another bucket to slap him across the face. As he screamed out again, Laceburner ran over and jumped onto his neck, reaching forward and grabbing the side of his head in her hands. She tightened her grip on the armor covering his head to the point that she began denting and crushing the metal beneath. He cawed lightly in pain, and she bared her teeth at him with a growl of her own.

"I have had it up to here with you," she growled. "Stop with your _bullshit_."

He chirped in apologies, and she huffed, letting go of his head.

"Go sit over there and wait for your turn." she demanded angrily. "And use your manners, or I'll beat you into the ground."

He lowered his head to the ground so that she could climb down, then hurried over to sit beside Strafe, who chuffed and laughed amusedly at him. He grumbled at his brother, and she turned to look at a soapy Scorn who was waiting for her to come back over and keep scrubbing his spikes. He shot a laugh at Swoop.

She snapped her fingers at him and motioned for him to lay down on the ground so that she could climb up. "Come on, get down."

He lowered his body, and she climbed up, grabbing his spikes to help pull herself up onto his back, and continued scrubbing his spikes in peace.

That peace only lasted ten minutes or so, when she was working on cleaning the last spike.

"Lacey?"

The black painted femme rolled her eyes, annoyed.

"What?" she barked out.

"I, uh..."

When whoever it was didn't continue on speaking she ground her teeth together.

"What do you want?!" she yelled, even angrier now that she was distracted for no reason. She turned and weaved through Scorn's spikes so that she was standing just before his neck. Sideswipe stood on the ground, being stared down by Slash.

"Slash," she grumbled frustratedly.

The velociraptor only flexed his hands as he stalked forwards, towards the red mech, with hostility. Spit dripped down from his top teeth as he snarled at the mech in question. Laceburner's eyes widened underneath her visor.

"Slash, no!" she yelled, but he ignored her. "Slash!"

When the 'raptor did nothing but continue on stalking forwards angrily, Laceburner leaped down from Scorn's back, landing on her feet and hands, pushing herself up and racing towards the red mech. She managed to race past the velociraptor and jumped onto Sideswipe . She wrapped her arms around his torso and her legs around his hips, stuffing her face into his neck.

"Oof, wh-"

"Play along." she hissed.

Thankfully, for his sake, he was smart and listened to her, wrapping his arms back around her, one arm reaching down to help keep her up and stuffing his face into her own neck.

"Hi." she said into his neck, smiling.

Behind them, she heard Slash snort in confusion, she pulled back to smile at the red mech that she clung to before she leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on his cheek. Slash snorted again, but this time she heard him turn and walk off to go sit with one of his brothers.

She dropped down to the ground unwrapping her arms from his neck, yet she failed to notice how his hands didn't leave her waist.

"Sorry. My fault, he's really defensive lately. He tried the same thing on Ironhide and Optimus Prime the other week too, but he had the common sense to stop before he did anything too stupid." she explained.

"S'fine," he responded with a smile. "I have no reservations about it."

She rolled her eyes at him although the tiniest of smiles bled onto her face. "What d'you want?"

"Prowl asked... uh..." he trailed off.

She watched as he got distracted by Swoop, who was busy glaring at him alongside Strafe, who was flexing his hands and arms to show off. She rolled her eyes again.

"Ignore them," she said, and he looked back down at her. "Their the smallest of the group, so they like making regular sized bots scared so that they feel better about themselves and their height." she waved off, walking back over to Scorn.

Swoop made an offended grumble, and Strafe made a whine-like sound that was a mix of surprise, resentment, and offense, looking away. She rolled her eyes one more time.

"What, you boys butthurt now? Get over it." she barked at them as she grabbed the hose, grabbing one of Scorn's spikes to help pull herself up. "What does Prowl want?" she asked, walking up the side of his body and onto his back.

"He, uh, wanted me to make sure you're okay. Said you weren't doing so... hotly this morning. Said you weren't yourself, and Jazz was a little worried." he explained.

She huffed. "I'm fine.", then she pulled the nozzle of the hose down, and the stream of water splashed against Scorn's metal armor.

She wasn't oblivious to the look Sideswipe gave her - he didn't believe her.

He didn't say anything, but he didn't leave either, and it made her grind her teeth in frustration at him. She didn't know why - maybe because she was mad right now, and her mood was sour, and all she wanted (and she did mean all) was to be left alone in the peace and quiet.

But suddenly, she didn't. She wanted for him to wait until she was done with the dinobots, then when she was back on the ground, wrap his arms around her as she stuffed her face in his chest, and never unwrap them. She wanted to lay down next to him and lay in bed all day, talking together about everything in their lives, bitching about their problems togther, and laughing together about everything.

And then, she was pissed off and discouraged because they couldn't do that, and it wouldn't ever happen. Not when Mythic was still with them. Then she wanted to cry because she wouldn't ever be able to do that, which led to her being angry because she wanted to cry.

She hated today.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Laceburner wasn't one hundred percent sure how she wound up in one of the training rooms. Maybe because this where everybody seemed to go when they were angry. Maybe because it was quiet, nobody was there so nobody could piss her off. Maybe it was just because that happened to be the closest room with a door. Whatever the reason, as soon as she finished with the dinobots, instead of going back to her office, she slunk in there.

Now, there she stood, next to a rack of weights, in the near middle of the room. There was only the back lights illuminating the room, casting shadows along the whole floor. She huffed, clenching her fists.

What she did next was unintentional. She didn't mean to, she wouldn't have ever done it had the scenario been even slightly different, and in that moment she was even more upset with herself that she let herself do that.

Her hand wrapped around the handle of a weight, her fingers curling around it, and with all her force she picked it up off the rack and threw it across the room with a yell.

The round, heavy, dense ball flew through the air in an arch shape, and crashed down into a rack of swords on the opposite side of the room. She panted heavily, her shouders going up and down as the various swords went crashing to the ground with a massive series of clangs that echoed off the walls and made her audios ring. Her teeth clenched together, and without knowing that she was, she furrowed her brow and glared angrily at the nothing that was in the direction. For the love of God, she just wanted one day of peace. ONE day, was that too much to ask? ONE day where she woke up when her body wanted, not when her alarm screamed at her, or when somebody else woke her up, when **she** woke up. She'd have a cube of energon, and got to do what  she wanted. Her computer would do every single thing she asked it to do without glitching on her, the workload wouldn't be overbearing but it would still be there, the dinobots would do what she asked, when she asked it, exactly how, without picking fights with each other, and (most of all) nobody would annoy her, or bother her with their presence. Where noboy walked on eggshells around her, where her lack of knowledge, her lack of memories, didn't affect anything at all. That was something that she never seemed to get, not even for a single day.

WAS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK FOR? ONE DAY?

"You've got quite the arm when you're slagged off."

She spun around quickly, her view landing on Ironhide. He stood in front of the door, blocking her only exit. The voice growled uncomfortably, tensing.

 _ **Careful.**_

She analyzed him - his stance, though solid, was fairly relaxed, and his muscles weren't nearly as rigid as they could be. He had his arms crossed over his chest and bare of any weapons, which she found peculiar. He always had at **least** one gun on him.

"Distancing could use some fine tuning, and you could be using an actual **target** instead of taking it out on our swords rack, but besides that you're pretty good." he continued on, unfolding his arms and walking closer to her.

She took a step back to steady her stance as the voice snarled lowly at him like a terriotorial animal. Ironhide must have noticed her unease and discomfort because he stopped walking for a second, slowing his hands in a 'I surrender' manner, which coincedentaly was the only time in his life that he would surrender, outside of training with Prime.

"I'm not armed."

 _ **Not having weapons on hand makes no difference when all he has to do is ball up his fists and hit you so hard in the side of the helm that you go flying in the opposite direction.**_ the voice pointed out.

Ironhide narrowed his eyes as his brows stitched together. "Is it... is your... voice - is she uncomfortable?"

 _ **Well no shit Sherlock, you're almost twice our size.**_

She had almost forgotten he was one of the small group of bots who knew.

She nodded at him once, tightly.

He nodded minutely in returned, and pondered for a second. "Why?"

The voice didn't say anything, but Laceburner knew that Ironhide was pretty high up on the list of mechs that the voice didn't trust.

"She..." she stopped talking for a second, waiting to see if the voice would stop her from saying anything, but she got no reply. "She doesn't trust you. You're **never** unarmed, you always have a weapon somewhere, and even then we're smaller, more untrained than you. We may be faster, but speed is nothing, and it won't do us any good if all you have to do is reach out, grab our head in only _one_ of your hands, and then crush our head in two seconds flat. Not to mention you seem fairly... quick to pull the trigger if you so much as  think something's off."

She tried her best to stay fairly polite, although she considered her entire explanation fairly hypocritical of her intentions - it was never nice to point out someone's flaws, no matter how you put it.

He nodded. "Alright." was all he said.

She watched him as he walked around her and picked up a fake, toy harpoon. He must have caught her look in his direction.

"What?" he questioned.

"You... aren't mad?"

He shook his head, twirling the harpoon in his hands. "Why would I be mad? I can tell you weren't lying to me. If you are, I guess I am as dense as Chromia says sometimes. At least now I know why you've always apprehensive around me, and I'm sorry that she-" he gestured to her head, meaning the voice, "- isn't comfortable enough to trust me yet."

The voice just snorted.

"Here." he handed her the harpoon.

"What?" she asked; what was she supposed to do with this?

"Throw it." he directed, pointing at one of the targets in the distance. "Try and hit the bullseye."

 _ **We know how a**_ _target board_ _ **works.**_ the voice huffed.

She just nodded and took the harpoon from him. She played with it in her hands for a few seconds, then adjusted her stance so that she was steadier. She fixed her grip on the weapon, then leaned back and line up the shot. She rocked back onto her heels, then threw it with force.

The fake harpoon flew through the air until it hit **right** _outside_ the bullseye.

 _ **Frag it**_. the voice grumbled.

She let her shoulders sag slightly, and she ran a hand over the back of her head with a sigh, but he was nodding. She walked over to the board and grabbed the toy, bringing it back to Ironhide with her.

"Are you not pleased with that result?" he asked.

She sighed, then shrugged. "I don't know. You told me to hit the bullseye, but I couldn't."

He nodded, looking pleased. "Because that one's got a magnet in it. You wouldn't have hit the target no matter what."

Her face hardened in anger, although to anybody else she simply would've deadpanned. He'd given her false instructions?

 _ **He's a fragging idiot, leave before I try to hurt him.**_

She didn't know that she shook her head in fron of Ironhide as she responded to the voice inside her head.

 _I can't, just 'cause I'm angry at him doesn't necessarily mean he did anything wrong._

 _ **He lied to you, isn't that enou-**_

Ironhide's voice drowned out the voices snarky response, pulling her out of her head. "What?"

"Pardon? Oh, it's the uh-" she pointed at her head.

"The voice?" he asked.

She nodded again.

"What's she sayin' now?" he asked, leaning again the weights rack.

"Sh-she wants me to leave."

"Why?"

"Because you lied - well, sort of. You told us to hit the bullseye, but you full well knew that we wouldn't be able to. she's mad and she wants me to leave." she explained.

Ironhide simply nodded again, then handed her another harpoon. "This one's normal, chuck it."

She noded, readjusted her grip on the harpoon staff, stepped back to steady herself, then lined up the shot and threw it.

It twirled through the air before landing on one of the rings of the board. She huffed.

"Don't fret. Here," he said handing her another one, and pointed her towards another target. "Why are you angry?"

She furrowed her brow. "Pardon?"

"Why are you mad today? Is it because of the voice? Or the twins? Think of why, use it to fuel your toss."

She clenched her jaw together, and looked over at the target board again. She was **angry** because nothing seemed to ever go right for her! Between having a God damned voice in her head, having to deal with all the assholes in this place - she just wanted some peace!

Her anger was back, and after tightening her grip on the staff of the harpoon, she turned and chucked it with as much force as she could.

It pierced the air violently with a whistling sound and stuck itself into the board, landing inside the bullseye. It wasn't exactly in the middle, but the point was it hit the bullseye.

She may not have meant it, or even known it, but when she stood back up at full height, she stood a little straighter.

He nodded at her, somewhat impressed. "Good. You could use some formal training, but besides that you're pretty good."

She watched as this time, he was the one who walked over and pulled the weapon from the board, playing with it as he tossed it between both hands. She _fully_ expected him to turn and throw it, then smirk at her as it landed right in the middle to flaunt off how great he is, how much **better** he is than her.

No, instead he placed the blunt end on the ground, holding just under the sharpened end, leaning some of his weight against it.

"Y-ou... aren't gonna throw it?"

He raised an eyebrow with a questioning look. "Why would I do that?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, to show off?"

He chuckled. "Laceburner, at my age... I have nothing to prove. I consider myself successful, well, I like to think as much anyway. I've got Chromia and we may not have little ones but our future looks clear enough. I don't need to show off, at least not to you."

The voice grumbled in disagreement with him, convinced that there had to be another reason, but didn't say anything.

"Now," Ironhide started, pushing the harpoon in her direction as he walked closer. "How's about we clean that throw up, huh?"

Her smile was small and tight at first, with her lips closed, but suddenly it grew wide.

Excited, she nodded.


	23. Chapter 23

**Hello friends! Number 23, tada! Just a reminder for everybody:**

 **Cybertronian Time Units:**

 **Nano-klik = 1 second**

 **Klik = 1 minute**

 **Breem = 8 minutes**

 **Cycle = 1 hour**

 **Orn = 1 day**

 **Quartex = 1 week**

 **Joor = 1 month**

 **Stellar cycle = 1 year**

 **Vorn = 83 years**

 **Ano-Cycle = 1 Cybertronian year (1.000.000 years)**

 **I do not own the time units, they were gathered from various internet sources.**

 **Enjoy everybody! Don't forget to leave a review!**

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

"No, your feet should be seperated to be in line with your shoulders. Yeah, there ya go. It keeps you more balanced than your stance before. And keep you weight distrubted evenly, keeping it favoured towards the back. That keeps you much more bala - there! There ya go! Now try."

With a grunt, Laceburner threw the toy at the board, watching as it spiralled through the air before planting itself straight in the middle of the board. She smiled widely, proud of herself as she straightened up.

"See? How you balance yourself affects everything." he said, patting her shoulder.

She looked up at him with a smile, nodding. "Yes sir."

He nodded approvingly, then patted her shoulder roughly. "How about we start practicing hand to hand?"

He immediately picked up the way her muscles stitched tighter together in... fear? Anxiety, maybe nervousness. Yeah, definitely anxiety and nervousness.

"If you don't want to I won't -"

"No!' she cut him off. "I want to, it's just..." she trailed off.

 _ **He's eight times our size.**_

She bit her lip and averted her gaze away from him, towards the ground.

At this point, after all the years of fighting and having to analyze his opponents from a distance, he was able to tell even the smallest of weaknesses in any and every bot. After spending two and a half hours in a closed training room with Laceburner, watching and catching her reactions, he was able to tell when the so-called voice Laceburner heard was dormant versus when it was active in her head. Her visor would lighten - insead of turning into a darker shade of black like usual, white would bleed in to make it borderline gray. Once the voice was finished speaking, her visor went back to being dark. So when her visor lightened, then returned to a dark shade he stepped back for her comfort.

"Just what?" he asked.

She shrugged. "You're... bigger. I could get hurt, and she's just really... apprehensive of fighting in hand to hand combat with you, even if it's just training."

The tall, large, black bot nodded in understanding, seeming to think for a few seconds.

"What if I found you a different partner? Someone you'd be more comfortable sparring with?" he offered.

She bit her lip, then nodded. "Sure."

It only took three minutes before Smokescreen and Trailbreaker came walking in together.

 _ **Oh great, more people.**_

"Hey Hide, what'd ya call us in for?"

He looked over at them. "Sparring partner for Laceburner, Smokescreen?"

She looked over at the bot in question.

He looked so relaxed and chilled, like it didn't bother him at all. Like the prospect of fighting someone who could lose her total control on herself didn't even phase him, he just shrugged and nodded.

"Yeah, sure."

He flexed his biceps suddenly, stretching his arms up over his head. The joints in his back popped, not too loud but loud enough that they heard it, and he rolled his neck.

The voice snorted in her head.

He was a lot like Sideswipe, except not as good. Sideswipe was streamline, built more for speed than brute force, and it was obvious Smokescreen was the same. But Sideswipe had a better handle over himself. Whenever Sideswipe got ready to fight, whether for training or a real fight, he became as solid as a wall, something that you couldn't see through with no dangerous flaws.

Smokescreen didn't. He let himself twitch, showed his flaws, made it obvious (at least to her and the voice) that something near his right knee was weaker or more painful than it should be. And he was impatient. At first, he was waiting to defend against her offense. But when she didn't move offensively in anyway his fists clenched, impatient, and rather _he_ move offensively. He took two cautious steps forward, then leaped forward on the third one and swung out at her.

She wanted more than anything to just duck down and fall to the floor, cowering. But Ironhide had wanted hand to hand combat, so instead she leaned backwards ever so slightly, just like she saw Mirage do to Hot Rod once. Hs fist went flying past and missed her so he tried with his other hand.

This time, she did crouch down to avoid the hit, but when she got back up she landed a punch on his side. Well, almost. He winced a the very last second, reached down and grabbed her wrist before she could plant her fist into his side to stop her.

He pulled her wrist up towards their heads and away from her target area, and pulled her closer towards him. She tried pulling her wrist free, but his grip only seemed tightened on her.

He smirked. "Uh uh," he shook his head. "That's not - oof - ugh."

Laceburner, in an attempt to get free, lifted her leg and planted her knee right in the crotch plate between Smokescreen's legs.

He let go of her and instead crumbled to the ground, his hands going down to hold the sensitive and now throbbing plating.

She took a step away from him, her eyes widening slightly in worry - had she hurt him that much?

 _ **He'll be fine, you did what you were told. Don't feel bad.**_

Trailbreaker burst out laughing so hard he almost lost his balance and had to grab his stomach because it cramped up. Beside him, Ironhide chuckled loudly, his shoulders shaking in pure amusement.

"Shoulda known, 'Screen!" Trailbreaker bellowed, laughing hard enough that his stomach started aching

Smokescreen simply groaned. "I didn't think she actually **would** ," he groaed. "It's _'Burner_ , she's supposed to be the nice one."

Ironhide, he chuckled; Trailbreaker, he chuckled; Laceburner, she did not chuckle. Laceburner didn't even smile. She froze.

Someone else used to call her that - 'Burner. She couldn't remember exactly who, but she knew someone used to call her that before. But who?

"Laceburner?"

Her mind snapped back to her body, and she looked up at Ironhide. "Huh?"

He smiled. "You wanna try some basic moves with Trailbreaker?"

She debated for a second; Trailbreaker was closer to being Ironhide's size, with the muscles and almost all skills to match. He was a lot bigger than Smokescreen. And really the only reason why she 'beat' - if you could call a thirty second spar followed by a somewhat dirty win that - Smokescreen so easily was because of a somewhat dirty move (it hadn't been as dirty as biting his hand, per se, but it wasn't a totally clean win) that caused him so much pain that no mech would have stood up straight afterwards.

The voice had different ideas.

 _ **Say yes**_.

Her eyes widened under her visor. _What?_

 _ **Just do it.**_

She gulped back spit that pooled in her mouth. "O-Okay."

Ironhide looked at her with a critical eye. " _You_ want to?"

She knew what that meant; is the voice the one saying yes or are you saying yes.

Trailbreaker threw a confused look in Ironhide's direction as Laceburner nodded again.

"Yeah."

"She said she wanted ta, 'Hide." the other big mech said, passing Smokescreen as the two mechs switched places. "What're we teachin' her?"

Ironhide took a deep sigh in, crossing his arms as his chest got bigger. "Beta position two."

Trailbreaker chuckled. "Goin' easy on the lil one, eh 'Hide? That's fine."

Smokscreen, having regained his composure, chuckled too, but Ironhide just watched them. She took an unsteady, shaky breath in.

 _ **Relax, it'll be fine. If it**_ **really** _ **comes down to it, I'll help.**_

"You ready?" Trailbreaker asked, pulling her attention out of her head.

She nodded, whether to Trailbreaker or the voice she didn't know.

"Okay."

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Do you have that one place in your life? That one place where something so major happened that it shaped your life in drastic ways that can never be changed or reversed? That one place that you either smile at when you think of it or happen to pass it one day, or scowl and bite back the tears when you remember... everything that happened there? Like the park where you met the love of your life, or a friendship that started under that one tree and eventually blossomed into something beautiful. That one road corner where an overcharged driver took your brother's life, or that old building that used to be the vet's office where you had to put down your favourite animal.

This field was her's. It was between Praxus and Tyger Pax, with maybe a five klik to one breem walk to both cities in opposite directions. It was mostly just empty, barren land nobody owned but the PRA didn't want to buy either. It wasn't a park so nobody played in it or came here for dates because it looked too empty to look like a good place to take a mate. She could see the rocks over to the left of her that acted as markers, to keep reminding you of the importance of those particular spots. It always had been, and for as long as she could remember, think, or function, it would continue to be.

Which wouldn't be for very much longer.

A tear ran down the side of her cheek as she looked out across the empty ground. It rolled down the entire length of her face from underneath her eye, down underneath her jaw just a tiny bit, then dripped off and fell to the ground. She didn't sob, or shake, or make any other movements or noises; she just stood there, her blue eyes raining tears, empty of any and all feeling except one.

Defeat.

 _ ***(* B? Where'd yo- *)***_

The comm link was cut off before whoever it was could finish their question. She didn't need to talk right now. She didn't **want** to talk.

She was done. What was left there for her now? Everybot was gone, she was alone now.

She was useless to the world.

Her subspace opened and pulled out a weapon - a blade. It was long, with a slight curve in it, and the sharp end was so small that even the smallest of pressure placed on it would pierce the skin with ease. The dark grey, Iaconian metal shone in the light and reflected an image on to her chest armor. She held it delicately in both hands, examining it with her eyes. There was a capitalized _'i'_ , written in traditional Praxian, carved into the tip, as well as into the handle.

Another tear fell off her cheek and landed on the blade, trailing down its side and falling off the sharpened edge and to the ground.

Getting on one knee, she looked over for her eyes to lock on the two rocks, closing her eyes tightly. She placed the blunt end of the blade on the ground, holding the pointed one towards the crack in her chest plates.

 _ ***(* Laceburner, sto- !*)***_

She cut the link off abruptly again, and set her chest above the sharpened point of the blade, her intention being to drop herself onto the blade and let it slice right through her spark.

 _ ***(* Laceburner, get home now or - !*)***_

There was a deafening noise that thrummed in her ears, and blocked off every other noise from reaching her audios.

She sucked in a deep breath - her last one.

What was meant to be her last one.

Just as she went to let herself fall, two arms grabbed her by the shoulders and tackled her away from the blade. She heard the sound of the sharpened sword clink on the ground, and she and her attacker went tumbling to the side.

"No!" she cried.

"Laceburner! Laceburner, **no**. That's not happening!"

"Please," she sobbed. "Just leave me alone."

"No!" the voice of whoever hovered above her wasn't angry, but it wasn't to be taken lightly - he was being very stern. "I will never allow you to do that."

The tears that bubbled up in her eyes stopped her from being able to make out who exactly it was, but she had a fairly good idea of who was hovering above her.

"What would have happened to your Mother had I not stopped you? Your siblings? What about me?" the mech above her asked. The question was obviously rhetorical, but he wouldn't have gotten an answer either way. He sighed, a sob getting caught in her throat, and he lowered his head down to place it on her shoulder. Something wet touched her shoulder, and then it dawned on her that he was crying.

He had never cried in front of her before.

At this point, the sobs were stuck in her throat, and her shoulders were barely able to shake up and down.

With one final sigh, the mech above her stood up, slipping his arms underneath her and picking her up. She felt the swaying sensation, and the sound of a branch snapping indicated that he was walking away now, probably to go home. She heard the sound of a subspace opening, and barely noticed him picking up her blade, slipping it in his subspace, then closing it again. His hands, strong and steady, readjusted the position she was in to pull her closer to his chest, and through all the denseness of pain and emptiness, she felt a ping of familiarity.

"I remember," he started as he began walking home. "When we first found you. Barely two aons old. You were terrified of everything around you, with wide optics that moved at the smallest of sounds. You weren't even old enough to have control over your own visor." he chuckled.

Her helm fell back over the edge of his arms, and she caught sight of the ever fading field.

"I remember I didn't want to take you in. You were small, you looked sick, and I was positive you were going to die or had just run away from the Pits. Or both. But your Mother, Primus bless her spark for this, refused to leave you there, no matter what I said. She said you were too young to be a threat. She was positive, with her life, that you needed our help. When she first tried approaching you, you'd jump every time she moved, and you backed away from her until you had backed yourself into a corner."

He reached the main road again, and turned a corner, headed for home.

"I remember I was really careful of you, I was positive that something was up with you. I didn't believe with my life that you were just there on coincedence. And as apprehensive as I was of you, you were of me." he chuckled again. "You refused to go anywhere near me, and you would not leave your Mother's side except for when I got too close, then you'd run behind any sort of barrier you could find just to get away from me. Apparently, our caution towards each other was mutual."

Unbeknownst to her, he smiled as he walked down the road, tears dripping down his face for the first time in maybe twenty aon cycles.

"You warmed up though. Two months after we found you, you followed me where ever I went. You'd throw fits and temper tantrums when you couldn't follow me to work. When I would come home every night, you'd yell and scream and squeal as you came bounding down the stairs or from the kitchen and I'd catch you in my arms. After dinner, we'd be watching TV and you'd sit on my knee, and I'd have to bounce you up and down as if you were riding an electro-pony until you were laughing so hard you fell or until it was your bed time."

He tightened his grip on her again. "I remember the first time those mechs showed up at our door step, looking for you. You were so scared, but I managed to convince them it wasn't you, it was the three year old that I watched my sparkmate birth. After they left, you cried and cried and you didn't stop until the next day; you were petrified. I remember how **happy** you were when 'Break showed up the first time. You wanted to do everything with him, you were so ecstatic that you finally had someone to play and hang out with."

He sighed, turning down his family's road, taking note of his neighbors in the yard, talking to each other worriedly. He knew they were talking about the femme in his arms. One of them had seen her walking out of the house, already looking half dead as she left with a blade in her hand.

"I remember everything that happened with you, Laceburner. Every single detail. I don't remember nearly as much about your other siblings as I do about you. You were my first sparkling - my baby femme. I remember any and every single thing that we did with you. We love you, Burner. Don't you dare ever think we don't, and don't you **dare** ever forget it."

One of his neighbors took notice of him and placed his servo over his spark chamber, a relieved look crossing his face. His sparkmate looked over and a sob ran through her frame and she covered her mouth while she tried not to cry. He simply nodded at them, letting them all know she was alright.

"You will never be alone, Laceburner. We are all here for you now. What Cori did was stupid and selfish, but you are not her. **You** are stronger than her. You have your family that will always - _**always**_ \- be there for you. Don't you ever forget that."

There was a scream that also sounded like a sob from inside his house as he began making his way up the walkpath, then his sparkmate came running out of the house, down the stairs, and over to him, skidding to a stop.

"Is she okay?" she sobbed, dropping her forehead onto her youngest daughter's chest. "Oh, Laceburner. My sparklet."

"She'll be alright, babe. She's okay." he reassured.

His sparkmate sobbed as tears barrelled down her face, and onto Laceburner's chest as she grasped her daughter's hand like it was the last time she ever would.

Up on the porch of the house, Laceburner's siblings came out in a rush, looking at them in worry. He shook his head at the three mechs and one femme looking at them in worry, telling them not to come over. The golden coloured mech looked down at Laceburner's head, which lay limp now, with a worried look.

'She's fine! Go inside' he mouthed. The biggest one, the oldest son, nodded at him the way boys do when they want to impress their Dad by being just like them, then pulled the rest of them inside the house with a "come on, guys.".

He looked back down at his weeping sparkmate. "She'll be alright. She's okay."

Laceburner didn't move or respond in anyway, and her optics fluttered shut from exhaustion. She was too tired for this.

She just wanted a break from everything.

She just wanted to _**forget**_.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_


	24. Chapter 24

**Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed your day, and enjoy this chapter :D Tomorrow's Wednesday, which means halfway to the weekend, hoot hoot! Anyways, enjoy this chapter, I'll see you in the next update! Don't forget to review, everybody :)**

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Laceburner's new favourite day had to be bath day.

The worst thing that could happen to the base, and probably Laceburner's least favourite part about early October was probably the heat. That's not to say the island isn't always nice and warm, it was. The island was close to the planet's equator as it was so it was always a hot temperature, but in the early fall it got so, so, so much hotter than ever before - especially this year. And because it got this hot, the solvent that they used in the showers got too hot to use in the femmes' showers. Laceburner still had yet to figure out why their showers couldn't be used. The only place that the solvent didn't get too hot was the public showers that the mechs used.

The only real way for them to be clean was for either all seven femmes to team up against the mechs, take control of the shower hall for themselves and lock the door behind them, _or_ to wait until the designated bath days. More often than not, they waited until bath day.

This also led to the bath man being her favourite person here. Trevor Yates was a thirty eight year old man who had been transferred to this base about four months ago. He was the head mechanic at the base and in charge of the maintenance and repairs for the regular, military issue vehicles, but when the femmes could no longer shower in their own showers he was assigned to them as well. And, of course, he seemed to click best with Laceburner than the other femmes. The black femme still wasn't sure why he liked her most, maybe because she was always quiet in the background but talked to him when it was obvious he wanted to socialize. Maybe it was because of her alt mode in particular. Maybe he just didn't like the other femmes nearly as much because they acted too Cybertronian around him. Maybe because Arcee and Flare Up tag-teamed up to scare him once, and Laceburner wasn't the only one who didn't laugh, mostly because she couldn't relate to the humor in scaring humans. See, the other femmes still had all their memories of home with them, and they all hung together in a pack when it came to bath day, talking and laughing and gossiping about everything on base, and they never really included him in their chats. However, Laceburner didn't. She minded her own business. She stayed away from the base gossip that others seemed so interested in involving themselves in.

 _ **We don't need to get caught up in that crap.**_

That was the voice's justification for it. Laceburner just assumed they didn't get involved because getting involved would involve remembering stuff from before this planet, which she was incapable of doing as of right now. It was both a blessing and a curse because at least then she wasn't caught up in it, but then it felt like she didn't have any friends because when she coudn't contribute to the conversation she was basically ignored.

 _ **It's like a high school in this place sometimes. And we**_ _ **don't**_ _ **need to get caught up in it. Just stay out of it.**_

She sighed, the hiss escaping from her grill, as she sat in the shade and waited for her turn. Another poor part about bath day was that she was the only car, after Moonracer update her alt mode to the same brand of motorcycle that Arcee had. Laceburner wasn't sure what make or model, but she really didn't care enough to ask, but because she was the only car, she took longer to wash so usually Trevor waited until after the others were done to start on her. She didn't mind too much though. That just gave her more time to relax in the shade.

After the dream she'd had last night, she needed a little time to relax.

"Evenin' Burnie, how's your day been?" he asked as he pulled more of the hose over to himself.

She rolled forward to stop in front of him, placed herself in park, and sat back on her axels.

He chuckled, squirting soap onto his sponge. "That bad?"

She groaned. "It's hot, I feel gross, my workload is massive right now, and I'm constantly tired, I'm having nightmares right and left. And it's **hot**."

He furrowed his brow as he picked up the hose. "How many hours of sleep you runnin' on?"

"Not enough."

His back straightened as he stood up. "When was the last time you slept, Burnie?"

"I don't know," her words slurred together, "Four days, maybe."

His eyes widened as his brows raised. "Geez, Burnie. Nobody can work on that much lack o' sleep."

"Well, I don't have another choice, I gotta finish all of my work." she answered.

He sighed. "Ya can't keep workin' yerself like that, Burns. Eventually all the exhaust yer runnin' on will burn out and you'll crash."

She huffed, but lacked a response; she knew he was right, but she couldn't afford to fall behind on her work, and right now she was one spare second away from falling behind. Every second she wasted, the threat of falling behind loomed right behind, like a nagging pain at the back of her neck that just **wouldn't** disappear.

Cold water splashed over her hood, bouncing off in all directions, and the water that managed to seep in between the cracks of her armor and slid down her protoform cooled her down, and she groaned at the feeling which in turn caused him to laugh. She huffed out a big gust of air, and black smoke came out of her exhaust pipe before disappearing as a dark cloud into the air.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

Laceburner got to take part in her first recruitment training. She found it quite... odd, actually. The new humans seemed either extremely, extremely humble in their presence, or very, very cocky, as if they figured somehow they were superior. Most of the bots seemed to be amused by it. Laceburner didn't really have an opinion. They were small and annoying, but they didn't bother her. They didn't talk to her, and the only ones that came near her were the Captain or whatever named William Lennox, and his friend Bobby Epps.

So far, Ironhide and Jazz sparred, Sunstreaker went up against Hot Rod, and Arcee fought Flare Up. Surprisingly to Laceburner, Jazz won his match, of course Sunstreaker won his, and Arcee and Flare Up never finished before it got serious and Prowl had to tell them to stop.

It was Laceburner's turn to spar. She stepped up to the mat, and looked over towards Optimus Prime and Prowl, who were exchanging words. They spoke to each other quietly for a moment, Prowl motioned for Ironhide and Jazz to join the conversation, then they all nodded in agreement.

"Laceburner, one of our newer femmes, will now be sparring in a hand to hand combat match against Sideswipe, one of our main frontliners." Optimus Prime announced.

She took note of the humans who whispered something to each other.

Sideswipe stepped away from Mythic and Sunstreaker, and stopped in front of her on the mats, only a few feet away from her. He straightened his shoulders to make himself look larger, although it wouldn't have mattered - he was already taller and more muscular than her. He was more physically dominating than her in every aspect.

"Don't you worry, Lacey. I'll go easy on ya." he winked.

She rolled her eyes, but stood up straighter. "Bring it, old man."

His mouth opened as his eyes narrowed, and she heard Jazz howl out a laugh. It was only then that Sideswipe remembered that she was, supposedly, only sixteen. Almost seventeen, but still considered sixteen.

"You may begin after the bell rings." Prowl commanded.

After about fifteen seconds the bell went off, but Laceburner failed to move.

Sideswipe, however, had other plans.

He lunged.

She stepped to the side slightly, quickly managing to evade his attack and he landed on the ground, his armour making loud clangs as they made contact with the ground. He was on his feet not even a second later, circling her again. Trying to find one of her weaknesses to use, but in that time she'd already analyzed him and managed to figure out one thing she could use against him. Sideswipe was built for speed, not force. If she could catch him off guard somehow, she could use force to bring him down - she had the advantage.

This time, she lunged. The act in itself definitely confused him because soon after she managed to hit him hard enough in the torso to wind him, and the two went rolling together to the floor. With his larger size, he came out on top, but she managed to lift her legs up to her chest and kicked him in his shoulder.

He cried out in pain as the joint dislocated and practically ripped apart, and she followed it up with a kick to the stomach that sent him onto his back, cradling his injured shoulder. Some of the wires were ripped to pieces and sparking, and a red fluid of some kind was leaking from the tears.

She immediately felt bad for putting him through that kind of pain, so bad that she almost gave up and stopped what she was doing.

 _ **Keep going. He wouldn't stop.**_ the voice urged.

She walked over, grabbing the arm that was attached to the injured shoulder, and twisted it, stepping on his other wrist to stop him from using it. He yelled out in obvious pain, his face scrunching up.

"Enough, Laceburner." Optimus Prime's voice rang out through the entire training room, resonating off the walls.

She immediately let go, walking back until she was far away. She felt horrible; she was the reason he was in pain, and the reason his arm was ruined.

Sunstreaker was beside his twin right away, helping him off the ground. Mythic walked forward with him, but she never seemed to be able to get a helping hand in to actually aid them.

"Holy frag, Lacey. You took down Sideswipe. Good job." Mirage complimented as he walked up behind her.

"Is he okay?" she asked, trying to catch a glimpse of him past Ratchet and Jolt who blocked her view as they worked on his arm.

 _ **He's fine, we took him down easier than expected.**_

"He's fine. Probably shocked. Nobody figured you would be that good." Hot Rod said as he joined them. "We all were pretty surprised when you took the offense."

She blushed. "I feel bad though."

Mirage laughed. "Why? Had it been reversed he wouldn't have. Don't worry."

She furrowed her brow; why did he sound mad? Sideswipe could be mean when challenged, she'd admit that, but he wouldn' be so mean as hurt her when she started making it obvious she was in pain.

Laceburner chewed on the inside of her cheek for a second or two.

 _"Laceburner to Bay 7 for weapons assessment and upgrade"_ came over the human PA.

She furrowed her brow, but when Hot Rod raised a hand for a high five, she complied before heading to the door.

"Hey! Lace, don't forget movie night tonight!" Hot Rod yelled after her.

She smiled as she looked back "I would never forget movie night!" she joked, before the door closed.

 _ **X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

She wasn't quite sure how she showed up. Or why she even showed up here. Even the voice had said it was stupid of her to come here. But through all of that, after her weapons assessment had finished, she still wound up here, knocking on his door.

"Enter."

She pushed it open quietly, walking in with her shoulders hunched nervously. He looked up from what he was doing on his desk.

"Laceburner! How may I help you today? Aren't you supposed to be off today?"

She nodded. "Um.. y-yeah, I am."

He nodded. "So what brings you here then?" he asked.

"Uh... may I sit?" she asked.

He nodded. "Certainly."

She smiled her thanks as she settled herself on the edge of the chair closest to the door.

"So," Optimus Prime started. "What can I do for you?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I've been told I can come here if I ever wanna talk."

He looked up from the files on his desk with a look crossed with confusion and maybe... worry. "Do you wish to talk about something?"

She shrugged. "I don't know..."

"Well, do you have any idea about what you'd like to talk about?" he asked, opening a data pad that came in from Prowl.

She hook her head. "No."

"Nothing at all? Nothing's happened to you with any bots on base? No questions you want to ask?" he clarified, swiping his finger along the glass

She shrugged again. "I have... questions about literally every single thing."

He looked up with a raised eyebrow. "Anything I can answer now?"

She shook her head with pursed lips. "No, I don't think so."

He nodded. "So then do you just want to **talk**?" he asked.

She sighed, watching as he worked. He seemed so focused and interested in what he was doing. Of course she was just a distraction to him. Maybe Arcee was wrong; maybe he didn't have his door open to anyone who wanted to talk. He was Optimus Prime, his time was much too valuable to be wasted on talking to her about her feelings. She was just an annoying little bug to him right now.

Tears welled up in her eyes from behind her visor, and she stood, catching his attention.

"Sorry, I can see I'm wasting your time."

"Laceburner," he said, standing up as he dropped what was in his hands, and walked over to her. "You are not wasting my time right now." he said, then gestured back down to the chair.

Timid, she sat back in her chair. He rounded his deak before sitting back in his chair, but this time he didn't look down at his work, he looked at her.

"A-Are you sure?" she asked quietly.

"My Autobots come first." he reassured her.

She nodded minutely, but didn't say anything.

"What's on your mind?"

She shrugged. "I don't-" she cut herself off with a sigh, and dropped her head.

"I know it's hard." he said. "To try and put your feelings into words. You can put your full faith in me when I say that I am aware of how difficult it is to be hiding a struggle for so long that when you try to voice it or talk about it, the words just... **don't** put themselves together. And I know how depressingly frustrating that can get for someone too. At your young age, emotions are sky high and they only worsen everything. Believe me, I'm aware of how you feel right now."

She nodded, wiping the last tear off her face; he _understood_ her. Nobody else here seemed to.

"But I want you to try. I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to answer with the first thing that comes to your mind. Whether it will offend me in any way or not, say it. Understand?" he asked.

She nodded, placing her hands in her lap uselessly.

"What's wrong with your life right now?"

She could feel the voice... wake up (that was the only word she could use to describe it), interested in her answer.

It barely took her two seconds before she could answer.

"Everything."

He nodded slowly. "What's one thing?"

"My voice." she answered, looking behind him slightly.

"The voice in your head? How is that wrong?" he asked calmly.

"She's there, but she's not. Everyday she gets more and more distant, like she's ebbing away. She's not as active some days, others it's like she's completely different. She'll be one personality one day, then a different one the next day. Sometimes she hides in the corners of my mind and won't come out for days at a time."

"How is that wrong?" he repeated. "Would that not be a good thing?"

She shook her head, looking down. "I don't know how to function without her. She was the first thing I remember, ever since I woke up. She's had my back since I woke up, I need her, she can't just leave me like that. I **need** her."

The voice didn't say anything, but she could still feel it.

"What else?" he asked. "What else is one thing?"

Again, it took her barely two seconds before she answered.

"Everybody treats me like I'm either an adult, or a baby. I'm either too young to know anything, or old enough to know the solutions to all their problems. And I'm scared that one day I'll say something that will get me in trouble because I respond like an adult when they'll only accept a baby's answer, or vice versa."

He offered no other answer to that besides a nod of his head, following it with, "What else is wrong?"

Again, it took her barely two seconds before she answered.

"I'm alone."

"Why would you say that. You have us, don't you?"

She shook her head. "None of you understand what it's like to be in my position."

"Your position?"

She took a shaky breath. "I can't remember anything. Ratchet said he was hoping my memories would come back with time, but they aren't. Every bath day, when I go out there, the girls are huddled together in a circle and they all talk about stuff that I just can't. I don't know who Lockjaw is or what Praxus was. I'm more like a human in a robot, the only thing I _know_ is this planet."

Optimus wasn't sure whether she knew or not that she had let tears begin to dribble down her face, but he wouldn't bring it up. He just listened instead.

"I don't have anybody here, I don't have anybody I can relate to. There's nobody that I can go gossip with, or go for a drive with. I am surrounded by bots here, yet I get on better with humans and the dinotbots. Because at least Bobby Epps and I both know what it's like to have to stand out in the sun in full gear for three hours, having to listen to bots talk about something they don't know jack squat about. I don't know what it's like to miss home, I don't _remember_ home. At least Grimlock doesn't wanna **talk** about the base gossip, he's more interested in enjoying his day."

Her head dropped a little, as did her face.

"I just want someone I can talk to. Someone who I can hang around with that _doesn't_ make me feel like an ignorant, insubordinate, uncapable three year old. Everybody here walks on eggshells around me because it's like they're worried I'll get offended if they talk about something I can't relate to. I can never do something for me, or because it's part of my job, I always have to explain _every single action_ I do. Even if I did have my memories, I've probably never felt more alone in my life."

She hung her head, her chin touching her chest. "I just want everything to be normal again, I want to **remember** , damn it."

When she raised her head back up to look out the window in Prime's office, he took immediate note of the stream of tears that were taking their time creeping down her cheeks. She took a deep, trembling breath in through somewhat clenched teeth, and raised her hand to wipe the bright blue tears off from under her visor. She was so tired of dealing with this.

She just wanted a break from everything.

She just wanted to _**remember**_.


End file.
